Roma mustered the first chance of an entertaining opening after six minutes as neat build-up from Gianluca Mancini and Donyell Malen gave Paulo Dybala a sight of goal, but he drilled his low shot straight at Jean Butez.
Just five minutes later, the visitors came even closer to opening the scoring when captain Lorenzo Pellegrini’s caressed first-time effort from the edge of the box clipped the post and went wide.
Como found a footing in the game soon after, albeit without testing Pierluigi Gollini as Trevoh Chalobah blazed over and Maxence Caqueret dragged his shot wide after finding space in the box.
Malen has got off to a hot start, having scored six goals in his first five Serie A games, and he rounded Butez yet could only find the side netting from a narrow angle in what was the last big chance of an entertaining but goalless first half.
However, Malen’s day was cut short less than 10 minutes after the restart as the forward lunged into a terribly timed challenge on Kaiki after his touch eluded him, leaving referee Michael Fabbri no choice but to produce a red card.
Como looked to immediately make the most of the man advantage, and Nico Paz cut back to find Maximo Perrone, who could only steer his shot over the bar before Anastasios Douvikas rifled a shot into the side netting.
With 20 minutes remaining, Paz forced an excellent save from Gollini as he tipped the Argentinian playmaker’s powerful strike over the bar.
The Roma stopper thwarted Paz again seven minutes later as he reacted quickly to close down the space after Jacobo Ramon’s lofted ball over the top.
Cesc Fabregas’s men continued to dominate possession and territory in the final stages, but Gian Piero Gasperini’s side held firm and secured an impressive point on the road ahead of their UEFA Champions League clash with former manager Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Como will visit Feyenoord on the same evening in the same competition.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jacobo Ramon (Como)