Como seal Serie A promotion as Alessandro Gabrielloni charts unique story | OneFootball

Como are now Serie A bound and that was confirmed after their 1-1 draw in the Serie B against Cosenza today, with Venezia having lost to Spezia in the other important game.

Heading into the last game of the season, Como needed to win against Cosenza to seal direct promotion and Venezia had to capitalise on the Lariani’s potential failure by beating Spezia. At a point, things seemed awkward. Como found themselves 1-0 in their game and Venezia were 1-0 up against Spezia.

But the game turned around, as Spezia scored twice quickly and Simone Verdi later scored for Como equalise and essentially seal promotion to the Serie A for the first time since the team’s relegation back in 2003. Como, importantly, have achieved regular promotions since they were in Serie D and on their journey has been striker Alessandro Gabrielloni.

Back in the 2017/18 season, Como were in the fourth division of Italian football. Despite finishing seventh in Serie C in the previous season, they had been relegated due to financial issues and the club was then auctioned. Chelsea legend Michael Essien’s wife – Akosua Puni Essien, soon took over the club but the name change from Como to FC Como was rejected by the FIGC and they were then relegated to Serie D.

Gabrielloni joined Como in the 2017/18 season after a rather dry spell at Bisceglie. But he scored 11 times in 16 Serie D games to help the side reach the play-off stages for promotion. After that attempt at going up failed, Gabrielloni scored 13 times in the 2018/19 season to finally help Como achieve promotion and go back to Serie C.

Como stayed in the Serie C for two seasons in a row and during that period, the Italian found the back of the net 22 times, putting up healthy numbers infront of goal. Under Giacomo Gattuso, Como finished top of the table in the 2020/21 season and earned promotion to the Serie B. Gabrielloni scored four times each in the two seasons before the current one but has nine of them now, playing a role in their promotion.

Gabrielloni, interestingly, has a degree in economics and he did that as he had doubts about his future in the game. He completed his thesis during lockdown and presented it remotely while wearing Como shorts. He has also admitted in an interview with the Como website that it was quite late that he realised that he would be making a career in football.

Currently 29, Gabrielloni now well and truly has a career in the game. His commitment to the club, despite all of their issues, has finally paid off. It is a story worth telling.

Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN