Player ratings: Como 2-0 Juventus – Paz beats Yildiz in battle of the rising stars

Nico Paz outperformed Kenan Yildiz in a battle of the rising stars, as Como claimed a surprise 2-0 victory over Juventus at the Stadio Sinigaglia in Serie A on Sunday afternoon. 

You can see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog

Goals from Marc-Oliver Kempf and the Real Madrid-linked Paz gave Como a 2-0 victory over Juventus, who have now  not won in Serie A in over a month, dating back to the 4-3 win over Inter on September 13. 

Much had been made of the ‘battle’ between young talents Paz and Yildiz ahead of kick-off, but it was the Como man who stole the headlines with a brilliant individual goal to seal Como’s two-goal lead just over 10 minutes from time. 

Here are the player ratings after a memorable victory for Cesc Fabregas’s side. 

Como: Butez 6.5; Smolcic 6, D.Carlos 6, Kempf 7; Vojvoda 6, Da Cunha 6, Perrone 6, Caqueret 6.5, Moreno 5.5; Paz 7.5; Morata 6.5. 

Best Como player: Nico Paz 7.5 – Another inspiring performance from the rising star, who showed the world what he is capable of with a fine individual goal to hand Como a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes to go. Carried it to the edge of the area and dispatched perfectly into the far corner despite a difficult set-up. Easy to see why Real Madrid are keen to bring him back to the Bernabeu in the summer.

Coach: Cesc Fabregas 8 – Technically it was Dani Guindos in the dugout for Como with Fabregas still suspended for the visit of Juventus. Either way, Como executed their game plan to perfection. They limited Juve to just two attempts on target across the 90, while putting up six successful attempts on goal themselves. They were disciplined and well set-up defensively and Juventus never particularly looked like scoring on the day.

Juventus: Di Gregorio 5.5; Kalulu 4.5, Rugani 5, Kelly 5.5, Cambiaso 5; Koopmeiners 5.5, Locatelli 5.5, Thuram 6; Conceicao 6, Yildiz 5; David 5. 

Best Juventus player: Franicsco Conceicao 6 – Slim pickings on a tough day out for Juventus. At least Conceicao tried to take to make things happen, even if he was largely unsuccessful and had the occasional slip.

Coach: Igor Tudor 5 – It wasn’t Juventus or Tudor’s day at the Sinigaglia. The Bianconeri never truly looked like scoring, they found it difficult to break down Como’s lines and struggled to get Yildiz or Conceicao on the ball in the second half. Tudor left it surprisingly late to make any changes, the first coming in the 77th minute just before going 2-0 down, despite the team looking like they could do with an injection of energy or creativity. Troubling that Vlahovic is the only Juventus centre-forward to have found the back of the net for the last month.