Como 4-1 Manchester United: Nico Paz scores twice as Cesc Fàbregas' side rout the 20-time English champions

Como beat Manchester United 4-1 at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, a result that will sting far more in Manchester than it will flatter in Lombardy. Nico Paz, the 19-year-old on loan from Real Madrid with a buy-back clause still attached, scored twice and set up a third as Cesc Fàbregas's side ran United off the pitch for long stretches of the second half.

Paz opened the scoring inside two minutes, finishing a move started by Lucas Da Cunha, and doubled Como's advantage just after half-time when Anastasios Douvikas converted his pass in the 49th minute. Paz then scored himself in the 57th, and Jacobo Ramón headed in a Kaiki cross in the 76th to make it four. Joshua Zirkzee, on as a substitute, pulled one back for United in the first minute of stoppage time, assisted by fellow substitute Amad Diallo, but it changed nothing about how one-sided the night had been.

A result that deepens United's autumn slide

United arrived in Como without a win in their last five matches in all competitions — a home loss to Manchester City, draws against Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and Leeds United, and a 2-0 Champions League defeat at Atlético Madrid on matchday 2 sandwiched in between. That result had already left them without a win in Europe heading into this trip, and this defeat makes it six games running without a win for Michael Carrick's side, who sit 13th in the Premier League on 7 points from seven games (1 win, 4 draws, 2 losses) and have now lost two of their three Champions League matches this season.

Paz the architect of Como's rise

For Como this is about as good as a result gets in their first-ever Champions League campaign: a win over a 20-time English champion, inside their own stadium, with the Argentine at the centre of everything good about the performance. Paz had set the tempo without scoring in Como's opening win over RB Leipzig in September and did not get on the scoresheet in the matchday-2 defeat at Feyenoord either, so this brace and an assist mark his first goal involvement of the European campaign. Como's last five results across Serie A and the Champions League before this game read two wins, a draw and two defeats — a mixed patch this result does plenty to lift, coming as it did against a side many had expected to be the tougher European test of the two.

• Four different Como players were directly involved in a goal: Paz (2 goals, 1 assist), Douvikas, Ramón and Da Cunha.
• Como had only one corner to United's four, but still finished with 8 shots on target to United's 4.
• United's two second-half substitutes, Zirkzee and Diallo, combined for the only goal their side managed all night.

Match stats

Match facts

• 2' — Nico Paz (Como), assist Lucas Da Cunha
• 49' — Anastasios Douvikas (Como), assist Nico Paz
• 57' — Nico Paz (Como)
• 76' — Jacobo Ramón (Como), assist Kaiki, header
• 90'+1' — Joshua Zirkzee (Manchester United), assist Amad Diallo
• Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, Como — Champions League league phase, matchday 3, Wednesday 21 October 2026

What's next

The result moves Como up the 36-club Champions League table from the group they shared with United after two matchdays, while United slip back down it on a campaign that has returned just one win from three. United's wider problems go beyond Europe: they sit 13th in the Premier League on 7 points from seven games, without a win in six matches in any competition, and the result at Como adds to the pressure already building on Michael Carrick after British media reported him apologising to supporters for the performance.