Kolo Muani snatches win for Juventus at Como with late penalty

COMO, Italy, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Randal Kolo Muani converted an 89th minute penalty to earn Juventus a 2-1 win away to Como on Friday, with the French forward scoring both goals for the visitors, to make it five goals in his first three Serie A games.

The win took Juventus to fourth in the standings on 43 points, one ahead of Fiorentina, who play Inter Milan on Monday, and Lazio who take on Monza on Sunday. Como remain 15th on 22 points.

It was a bright start from Como, spending the opening minutes in the opposition half, putting the Juventus defence under pressure.

Nico Paz struck from the edge of the area and Juventus keeper Michele Di Gregorio got down to parry the ball away. Lucas Da Cunha tried his luck from distance and Di Gregorio had to stretch to palm the ball over the bar.

Como continued to press with Juventus struggling to find any rhythm, but the visitors took the lead completely against the run of play.

Kolo Muani collected a pass from Nicolas Gonzalez but still had plenty of work to do with little support available. He drove forward into the area, skipped past his marker before rifling his shot to the roof of the net from a tight angle.

The French forward has kept Dusan Vlahovic out of the starting side since his arrival from Paris St Germain on loan, and on this form, manager Thiago Motta has been proved right.

The goal did little to change the flow of the game, however, and on the stoke of halftime Como deservedly found an equaliser.

Juventus managed to clear a corner, but Patrick Cutrone dispossessed Teun Koopmeiners before floating the ball back into the box and Assane Diao, unmarked on the far post, stooped to send a looping header over the keeper.

Como began the second half in similar fashion, with Di Gregorio making an instinctive save with his foot from Paz in the opening seconds and the keeper was called into action again minutes later, denying Gabriel Strefezza.

The rest of the game offered little in the way of entertainment or goalmouth action until Como keeper Jean Butez fouled Federico Gatti when a free kick was floated into the box and the referee pointed to the spot.

Juventus looked set to register their 14th league draw of the season, with an uninspiring display, before Kolo Muani stepped up and coolly sent Butez the wrong way.

Como had one final chance, but Alberto Dossena's header hit the crossbar and Juventus held on to record back-to-back league wins for the first time since early November. (Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Pritha Sarkar)