Como’s triumphant and spectacular debut in the Champions League

There was a team that shone for its managerial acumen, its foresight in unearthing young and talented players, and its entertaining, attacking style of play. RasenBallsport Leipzig was a team that didn’t exist; from 2009 onwards, it rose through the ranks of German football, challenging Bayern Munich for the Meisterschale and reaching the semi-finals of the Europa League and the round of 16 in the Champions League. Leipzig was, and remains, a model of growth and the ability to generate revenue from football; one may not like it – and for many reasons, starting with the fact that it is a club built from the ground up where players are treated like shares on the stock market – but it remains a benchmark in the football world.

Then, one evening in mid-September, the club in question came under the onslaught of a side that had not played in Europe since 21 April 1981 – the final matchday of the Mitropa Cup – when they faced Csepel SC. That Como side was a young team with limited financial resources but considerable talent, which a year earlier had secured an unexpected victory in Serie B (thereby qualifying for the Mitropa Cup) and which finished that season in 13th place in Serie A.

This Como side, on the other hand, is a strong team, intelligently built by Carlalberto Ludi and his staff in the image and likeness of their manager, Cesc Fàbregas – a man of great talent and, as they hope here on the shores of Lake Como, with a bright future ahead. A Como side that, on its Champions League debut, beat Leipzig 4–1. And in doing so, it secured in one fell swoop: three points, the place once occupied by RasenBallsport Leipzig in the collective imagination, and the satisfaction of being the only Italian side to have won in the Champions League this year. Three small, fragile trophies that could easily vanish at the first gust of the Tivano wind—a little stronger than average—or melt at the first drop of rain falling from the sky to bring a modicum of respite to the woods, exhausted by this summer’s heat and drought.

Yet they’re there. And that’s no small feat. Not so much for the three points or the result, but above all for having played their debut in the most prestigious and lucrative European cup with enthusiasm rather than fear – a sign of maturity, competitive grit and a disregard for what is happening around the players.

Italy is a conservative country at heart, which is why it has always been said that one of the great dangers – perhaps the greatest danger of all – for a team is to succumb to over-excitement. Cesc Fàbregas’s Como are playing whilst floating on a lake of over-excitement. And the more of it there is, the better they play. Como play with their sights set high, completely unconcerned by the myth of Icarus; after all, myths are designed to preserve the status quo, with the aim of getting as much out of football as possible – and never mind if it isn’t everything.

In the meantime, this represents a step forward – albeit not a decisive one, nor even a particularly challenging one. Leipzig are undergoing a rebuild and have lost several talented players during this transfer window, but it is nonetheless a step in the right direction and bodes well for the rest of the season.