What do Como’s nine Champions League goals mean?

‘What is essential is invisible to the eye,’ says the fox to the Little Prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s masterpiece. Reality cannot be fully grasped by a superficial glance. Yet this is precisely the risk one runs when observing Como’s matches and results.

The latest result was a resounding 9–1 away victory over the French side Lens, a scoreline more reminiscent of a tennis match than a football one, which saw the team from the Lake Como region become the first Italian side to score so many goals in Europe’s premier club competition.

And so, amongst teams racking up defeats (Allegri’s Napoli, now on their third setback in four matchdays of the mega-group), those with inconsistent form (Chivu’s Inter) or those who seem to have made a habit of conceding comebacks (Gasp’s Roma, first coming from behind against Real Madrid and then against a struggling Manchester United), the only Italian ship currently in port (that is, amongst the top eight, those who will progress directly to the round of 16 without having to endure the ordeal of the play-offs) is none other than Como.

However, the nine goals scored against Lens do not merely indicate that the Como-based side are the only Italian team in the Champions League currently in good form. Rather, the overall statistics for Fabregas’s team—three wins and nineteen goals scored—confirm the sound work carried out by the management and the Catalan manager. Take, for example, the goalscorers in the match against the French side: Anastasios Douvikas (a hat-trick for the Greek player, the first to score in a team’s first four Champions League matches since a certain Alessandro Del Piero), Nico Paz, Da Cunha, Liberali, Baturina, Kempf and 18-year-old debutant Papaccioli. Few observers were familiar with these players when they first arrived on the shores of Lake Como. 

All this has once again sparked the usual talk about the Hartono family’s wealth and the team that the Indonesian tycoons have built and made available to Cesc Fàbregas.

It is true that the owners of Como have spared no expense since they took over the club in April 2019, when it was mired in the quicksand of Serie D. But the money has been put to good use. It is not enough simply to spend; one must also know how to do so. And the Lombards have certainly done just that, signing players who fit the style of football the manager wants.

Como’s strength therefore also lies in the ideas of its manager, who is capable of shaping a team with a truly European style of play. It is no coincidence that the Como side, setting aside differences in quality, adhere to principles similar to those of the continent’s top clubs: they play to win rather than to avoid defeat; they field three or four attacking players simultaneously who are adept at one-on-one situations; they rotate players when and where necessary; and they tailor their attacking play to the opponent they are facing.

This means that the players possess a wide range of skills, enabling them to deal with opponents who defend with a low block or press high up the pitch, as well as those who pass the ball around or play a more direct style. A fluid identity, adaptable to the context.

Como are currently winning and impressing, both in Europe and in Serie A, having recorded ten wins, two draws and just two defeats in the fourteen matches played so far across the league and the Champions League.

On Sunday at San Siro, at 6 pm, it will be the Como side putting Chivu’s Inter to the test, rather than the other way round. Who would have thought that back in August?