European football: Napoli title hopes suffer blow with shock defeat by Como

Napoli’s title hopes suffered another blow as they were beaten 2-1 by Como at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia. Antonio Conte’s side missed the chance to reclaim top spot in Serie A as Assane Diao’s fine strike extended the visitors’ winless streak to four matches.

Having been overtaken at the summit by Inter on Saturday, Napoli made a nightmare start when Amir Rrahmani handed the lead to Como in the seventh minute. The Kosovan centre-back attempted a back-pass from Matteo Politano’s throw-in, but with the goalkeeper Alex Meret out of position, the ball bounced into an empty net.

Ten minutes later, the Napoli forward Giacomo Raspadori pounced on some sloppy defending to slot the ball past the Como keeper, Jean Butez, and level things up. Napoli could not push on in the second half and were punished in the 77th minute, when winger Assane Diao fired home a stunning finish from Nico Paz’s precise pass.

“It’s definitely a setback that hurts because of the way it came, because on a mental level we showed cracks, just like in the last three games where we always got caught up,” Conte said. “I think the boys are really giving their best but we need to make a path and give time to grow, not only from a technical [or] tactical point of view but also in terms of mentality.

“We’ve been playing since the beginning of the year with this pressure, which fortunately we brought on ourselves: being there at the top of the table or at least being close. This was absolutely not expected. Now we have to face it in the best way, trying to analyse why in the second half they [Como] had more hunger and desire.”

Inter, who defeated Genoa 1-0 on Saturday, stay a point clear at the top, while third-placed Atalanta can move to within two points of Napoli with victory at Empoli on Sunday evening. The top two meet at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona next Saturday in a potentially decisive game in the title race.

In La Liga, Athletic Bilbao boosted their hopes of Champions League qualification with a 7-1 thrashing of the bottom club, Valladolid. Nico Williams set up Mikel Jauregizar for the opener after 11 minutes and, after Mamadou Sylla’s leveller for Valladolid was ruled off for offside, Nico Williams added the second with a solo run and finish.

Maroan Sannadi added the third and Oihan Sancet the fourth before half-time at San Mamés, and while Sylla pulled one back early in the second half, things got worse for the visitors as Stanko Juric was sent off. Nico Williams curled home his second goal, before Iñaki Williams set up Gorka Guruzeta for the sixth and added the seventh himself.

Athletic are now unbeaten in 16 league games and are four points clear of Villarreal in fifth place. The in-form Basque side could even force their way into the title race, sitting just six points behind the leaders, Barcelona.