Como 4-1 RB Leipzig: Cesc Fàbregas' side mark their Champions League debut with a rout

Como's first-ever Champions League match went about as well as it could have. Cesc Fàbregas' side beat RB Leipzig 4-1 at the Stadio Sinigaglia, with Martin Baturina, Anastasios Douvikas and Assane Diao all scoring before the hour mark and Máximo Perrone adding a fourth in the closing minutes. Andrija Maksimović's 58th-minute strike was the only reply Leipzig could muster.

Three goals in 39 minutes

Baturina opened the scoring in the 15th minute, and Douvikas doubled the lead in the 38th. Diao made it 3-0 in the 54th minute before Leipzig pulled one back four minutes later through Maksimović, but Como had the last word: Perrone, on as a substitute, wrapped up the scoring in the 90th minute for a 4-1 final margin that flattered the visitors little.

A Serie A form side carries it into Europe

The result continues a strong start to the season for Como, who sit 3rd in Serie A with seven points from three games — a draw at Udinese followed by wins away at Napoli and Genoa — heading into this fixture. Taking that form into a first Champions League campaign and beating a side with the pedigree of RB Leipzig by three clear goals is as strong a continental debut as a promoted club could ask for.

Leipzig's build-up read very differently. An opening 3-0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach was followed by a 1-3 defeat away at Werder Bremen, so the visitors arrived in Italy with their form already unsettled rather than carrying momentum into a first Champions League fixture of their own. Como, by contrast, had not lost in any competition all season before kick-off — the gap between the two sides' recent form matched the gap that showed up on the scoreboard.

Nico Paz starts the European era

Nico Paz started in Como's midfield for the club's first-ever Champions League match, six days after his curling strike from the edge of the box had helped beat Genoa 4-1 at the Ferraris. The 19-year-old, on loan from Real Madrid with a buy-back clause still attached, was voted the best midfielder in Serie A last season, and Fàbregas has built his rebuild of the club around him since taking over in Serie B three seasons ago. Paz did not get on the scoresheet against Leipzig, but his passing range set the tempo behind Baturina, Douvikas and Diao's opening spell, exactly the kind of platform performance that does not show up in a stats table.

Match stats

Line-ups

Match facts

• 15' — Martin Baturina (Como)
• 38' — Anastasios Douvikas (Como)
• 54' — Assane Diao (Como)
• 58' — Andrija Maksimović (RB Leipzig)
• 90' — Máximo Perrone (Como)
• Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, Como — Champions League league phase, matchday 1, Thursday 10 September 2026 — attendance 10,198

How both sides fared next

Como take a maximum three points into the rest of the league phase and a Serie A campaign that already looks like their best in years, while Leipzig needed a response in their next outing after a heavier defeat than their Bundesliga form had suggested was coming. Both sides returned to domestic action before their next European fixture.

In the two weeks since the rout at the Sinigaglia, both sides have had it both ways. Como beat Parma 2-1 at home on matchday 4, then suffered their first defeat of the season, 0-2 away at Frosinone, on matchday 5 — still enough to leave Fàbregas's side 7th in Serie A, level on points with the Champions League places and only behind on goal difference. Leipzig answered their defeat in Como with a 5-0 win over Hamburger SV, only to lose 0-2 away at Bayer Leverkusen the same weekend Como fell at Frosinone, leaving them 9th in the Bundesliga table with two wins and two losses from four games.