Serie A Roundup: Como, Roma reach Champions League; AC Milan and Juventus miss

Como qualified for the Champions League for the first time in its history on Sunday. The lakeside club joined Roma in the top four of Serie A as AC Milan imploded in a 2-1 defeat to Cagliari.

Milan’s loss saw the seven-time kings of Europe drop out of the top four after a disastrous end to the season.

Juventus also missed an eventful final day marred by fan violence, delaying the 2-2 draw against Torino by more than an hour.

Como’s 4-1 win at Cremonese, who drop to Serie B, and Milan’s defeat after a shock home defeat were enough for Cesc Fabregas’ side to seal their incredible rise from the lower leagues to the top of Europe.

Como finished the season fourth, two points behind Roma, whose 2–0 win over already relegated Verona secured third place and ended their long absence from the Champions League.

Roma have not played in Europe’s elite club competition since being knocked out by Porto in the last 16 of 2019, and a top-four finish came after goals from the in-form Donyell Malen and Stephan El Shaarawy.

Malen tapped in Paulo Dybala’s brilliant low cross, which he whipped home after the Dutch striker’s penalty was saved by Lorenzo Montipo, while El Shaarawy sealed the deal in stoppage time of his final game for the club.

But even that achievement pales into insignificance compared to Como, which has never played in European competition in its history and was in the third tier of Italian football when it was acquired by tobacco giant Djarum in 2019.

«It’s on par with all my achievements, how it was done and who we did it with, because we did it with very young players, almost all of them are under 23. That’s great,» Fabregas said.

Che Adams forced home Torino’s late equalizer as Juve finished the season sixth after a match that started late due to ‘public safety’ after one of the Turin giants’ fans was hospitalized following clashes with rival supporters before the match.

Juve’s draw was even more painful for Milan as it meant that a point against Cagliari would have put Massmiliano Allegri’s team in fourth place, ahead of Como on the head-to-head record.

The disaster in Milan, Conte’s farewell

Milan started the day in third and looked set to reach the Champions League when Alexis Saelemaekers scored in the second minute.

But tap-ins in each half from Gennaro Borrelli and Juan Rodriguez dropped Milan out of the top four and into another crisis.

A paltry 10 points from the last 10 games since defeating champions Inter Milan left Milan, and owner RedBird, heading into a summer likely to be full of changes.

However, Massimiliano Allegri said nothing about his future in the wake of a terrible performance against a team that had nothing to play for.

«Right now I am disappointed and angry because we are out of the Champions League. No one expected such a performance, but we have to accept it,» Allegri said.

Napoli fans said goodbye to Antonio Conte during a quiet 1-0 win over Udinese, leaving their team with a season-ending final position of second place, 11 points behind new champions Inter.

Rasmus Hojlund, now a permanent signing after Napoli qualified for the Champions League last weekend, scored his sixteenth goal of a successful first season in Italy.

«It has been an honor and very special to coach Napoli… It has been two great seasons, an exceptional experience,» said Conte, who is tipped to take charge of the national team.

Bologna’s Vincenzo Italiano is the man most mentioned as a potential replacement for Conte, while Napoli’s owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has rejected a $2 billion bid to take over the club from a group of investors led by Underdog Global Partners.

De Laurentiis saved the club from bankruptcy in 2004, ending a 33-year wait for a league title in 2023.

That 2023 Scudetto, one of the biggest stories of the century in European football, was followed by another last season under Conte.

Published on May 25, 2026