MILAN: Como took another step towards a historic qualification for the Champions Lea­g­ue after cruising to a 5-0 victory over lowly Pisa on Sunday.

Assane Diao set Como on their way in the seventh minute with a fine low drive, and further strikes from Tasos Douvakis, Martin Baturina, Nico Paz and Maximo Perrone ensured a fifth straight win in Italy’s top flight.

Ambitious Como have never played European football but the team coached by Cesc Fabr­­egas sit fourth, three points ahe­ad of fifth-placed Juventus who were held to a 1-1 draw by Sas­suolo on Saturday. Roma can draw level on points with Juve with a home win over Lecce.

Como had far too much for Pisa who look set to go straight back down to Serie B after promotion last season.

Pisa sit bottom of the division, nine points behind Lecce who are just outside the relegation zone.

Later on Sunday, Lazio’s January signing Kenneth Tay­lor scored two second-half goa­ls in a 2-0 win at Bologna that enabled the Roman club to leapfrog the hosts into eighth place.

Also, seventh-place Atalanta bounced back from a Cham­pions League loss to Bayern Munich with a 1-0 victory over Hellas Verona as Davide Zappacosta scored before the break.On Saturday, AC Milan closed the gap on Serie A leaders Inter Milan as they beat Torino 3-2 at San Siro.

Level at half-time after Giovanni Simeone struck for Torino a minute before the break, Milan got all three point thanks to quick-fire goals in the second half from Adrien Rabiot and Youssouf Fofana.

Milan move back into second place, a point above Napoli who won 1-0 at Caglairi on Friday.

Torino, who also scored thro­ugh Nikola Vlasic’s late penalty, are six points above the rel­e­g­ation zone after having lose half of their 30 league matches.

Saturday’s win further boosted Milan’s chances of returning to the Champions League as they sit nine points ahead of fifth-placed Juventus.

Juve remained fifth after only managing to draw 1-1 with a depleted Sassuolo team hit by an outbreak of whooping cough.

Kenan Yildiz looked to have sent Juve on the way to a simple win when he lashed home the opener in the 14th minute, but Andrea Pinamonti earned Sassuolo a point eight minutes after break by sweeping home Domenico Berardi’s low cross.

Manuel Locatelli could have secured all three points but his feeble late penalty was saved by Arijanet Muric.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2026