COMO, Italy — Como marked its Champions League debut with a one-sided 4-1 home win over RB Leipzig on Thursday.
Martin Baturina, Anastasios Douvikas and Assane Diao staked Cesc Fabregas’ side to a 3-0 lead before the hour mark in the Italian club’s first-ever appearance in any European competition after qualifying in the top-four in Serie A last season.
Máximo Perrone added Como’s fourth just before full-time to complete the rout as the team celebrated a historic win.
“It was a great night for the team and for the city,” man-of-the-match Baturina said after the game.
Capacity was reduced to around 10,000 because the delightful Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia stadium on the shores of Lake Como underwent modifications for the Champions League.
The 119-year-old club reached the competition under coach Fabregas, a standout goal-scoring midfielder during a stellar club career with Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona. He played for the Spain team that won the 2010 World Cup.
Fabregas guided Como to fourth place last season ahead of Juventus and AC Milan to claim Serie A’s final Champions League spot with a high-pressing brand of soccer.
“Yeah he give me a lot of freedom,” Baturina said of Fabregas’ tactics. “Sometimes he doesn’t like it because I get out of position a little bit. But he likes it because he gives us the freedom and we play good football.
“We are audacious.”
Goals have been coming from 22-year-old playmaker Nico Paz, who has stayed on loan from Real Madrid and Greek center forward Douvikas, who was involved in the opening goal.
Paz released Douvikas down the right and then latched onto his deflected cross toward the penalty spot, recovering from a slip before pushing the ball past two defenders and guiding it into the bottom left corner.
After the game, Baturina said he hoped that Como was only getting started in its European adventure.
“Of course it’s a beautiful feeling, I’m really proud of myself and the whole team and we need to continue like this because this is only the beginning,” Baturina said.
“You never know what happens in the Champions League because you play against different styles all the time. So we need to go game by game and and look to go as far as possible.”
Fabregas spoke of his young playmakers Paz and Baturina after the match and was full of praise for the abilities’ of both attackers.
“We know that there are some players that you need to be more structured and there are others that are more talented and you can give them more freedom,” Fabregas said. “I feel like the figaro, the No 10, is getting lost, and I’m very lucky to have two very talented kids, 22 and 23, that can play that way and go a very long way in football.
“‘It’s all about trusting the players at some point, you can’t control everything,” Fabregas added of his tactical approach.
As gesture of respect, Como invited many of its older fans to the game against Leipzig on Thursday.
President Mirwan Suwarso and some directors made the decision of giving away their own seats, allowing supporters born in 1950 or earlier to attend the sold-out game.
“We will be honored to give up our seat for them,” Suwarso had posted on Instagram.
They looked on with pride as midfielder Baturina scored Como’s first-ever Champions League goal in the 15th minute.
“It’s a very, very young team. Unfortunately I have to tell them and remind them we have another big game on Monday [against Parma],” Fabregas said. “But it was a very big game, very big night for the city and the club and now we have to be competitive every three days.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.
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