Como Sit Above City After Putting Four Past United

Nico Paz scored twice and created another as Como beat Manchester United 4-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday. The result lifted Cesc Fàbregas’s side to ninth in the 36-team league phase, one place above Manchester City, after 10 goals in three games.

Michael Carrick’s team has now gone seven matches without a win in all competitions and sits 20th, level with Inter Milan. Paz needed two minutes at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia to make the gap feel larger than a table can show.

Paz Curled United Open Inside Two Minutes

Diogo Dalot had already wasted an early opening after Àlex Valle slipped, and United never recovered the ground. Lucas Da Cunha found Paz on the edge of the box, Harry Maguire backed off, and the Argentina midfielder opened his body to bend a left-foot shot past Senne Lammens in the second minute.

Carrick sent both sides out in a 4-2-3-1. Matthijs de Ligt started for the first time in 325 days, with Maguire beside him, Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos in midfield, and Bryan Mbeumo leading the line. Como’s shape looked the same on paper and nothing like it in the game, because Paz, Martin Baturina and Da Cunha kept finding the pockets United left between the lines.

The visitors reached half-time only a goal down, then Carrick took off Santos and Matheus Cunha for Carlos Baleba and Amad Diallo. Four minutes later Paz received the ball in a one-touch move from halfway, slipped Anastasios Douvikas through, and the Greece striker lifted a finish over Lammens after beating de Ligt to the run. Paz made it 3-0 in the 57th minute, stripping Baleba near the touchline, driving more than 30 metres, and steering a left-foot shot inside the far post.

THE GOALS AT THE SINIGAGLIA

1. 2 minutes: Nico Paz curls in from Lucas Da Cunha, 1-0.
2. 49 minutes: Anastasios Douvikas finishes Paz’s through ball, 2-0.
3. 57 minutes: Paz scores again after taking the ball off Carlos Baleba, 3-0.
4. 76 minutes: Jacobo Ramón heads in Kaiki Bruno’s cross, 4-0.
5. 90+1 minutes: Joshua Zirkzee converts Amad Diallo’s cross, 4-1.

Bruno Fernandes came off in the 66th minute for Zirkzee with little argument from the captain. Kaiki, on for Da Cunha in the 69th, then raced down the left and picked out centre back Ramón, unmarked after Maguire and de Ligt were caught on the counter, for the header that made it 4-0. Zirkzee’s stoppage-time finish from Diallo’s cross was the first United shot that truly hurt Jean Butez.

Ninth in Europe, Above Manchester City

The night will be filed as a United disaster, and the away end emptied long before the whistle. The league phase already says something colder. Como have played three, won two, scored 10 and conceded five. That is the same points total as City, with one more goal scored and a better difference, which is why Fàbregas’s club is ninth in the league phase and City are 10th.

AFTER THREE LEAGUE-PHASE GAMES

United’s three points came from a 4-0 home win over Sabah on 10 September. Atlético Madrid then beat them 2-0 on 13 October, and Como added four more against them. Inter sit on the same 5-6, minus-one, three-point line, which is why UEFA lists both clubs equal 20th until later tie-breakers kick in.

Como’s 10 goals are level with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. Paris Saint-Germain, Aston Villa and Liverpool are the only sides to have scored more after three matchdays. That is not the profile of a club that got lucky against a broken opponent for 90 minutes.

Carrick Walked Straight Past His Players

At full time Carrick crossed the pitch, held his hands up to the supporters who had stayed, and went down the tunnel without acknowledging his players. He later said he had not given his own position any thought. He did not spare the performance.

First of all, I have to apologise to the supporters. I went over to the away end, and I care about this football club as much as anyone, if not more with the position that I’m in and what I value this football club. For us to play in that way is not acceptable. It wasn’t a good performance at all.

Michael Carrick, Manchester United head coach, post-match press conference

Fernandes, asked whether the tactics were wrong, said that was for the manager and staff to see, then added that the side sometimes has to be braver under pressure and press high enough to make the opponent uncomfortable. Carrick’s reply was flat. He said United had half-pressed man to man after the interval and still conceded, and that no system works if players do not run forward and back.

The absentees were real. Lisandro Martínez did not travel. Kobbie Mainoo is about 10 days from a return, Luke Shaw longer than that, Ayden Heaven was ill, and Marcus Rashford is still managing a hip problem. De Ligt’s first start in 325 days was supposed to thicken a defence that had already been opened by Atlético. It did not. Carrick and Tielemans spoke afterwards on the club channel.

Carrick said the display was the opposite of the intensity United had shown at Leeds, and that he was angry. He also said responsibility stops with him. The seven-game wait for a win now meets Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Sunday, which is a domestic problem with a European scoreline attached.

From Serie B to a Champions League Rout

Fàbregas is 39. He made 104 Champions League appearances for Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea, then finished as a player at Como, coached the youth side, and helped the seniors up from Serie B in 2024 as assistant to Osian Roberts. Given the first-team job, he finished 10th in his first season and fourth last term, which put a club that had never played in Europe into the league phase as one of four debutants, and the only one that qualified directly.

He told UEFA before this tie that it was a match to dream about, and that Como still had to compete with what it had against sides that were better on paper. Wednesday was the first meeting between the clubs, and Como’s first game against English opposition. It was also the second time this season the Lariani had put four past a Champions League opponent at the Sinigaglia.

COMO’S FIRST THREE EUROPEAN NIGHTS

• 10 September: A 4-1 win over RB Leipzig on the club’s European debut, with Baturina, Douvikas, Assane Diao and Máximo Perrone on the scoresheet.
• 14 October: A 3-2 defeat at Feyenoord, Como’s first away game in UEFA competition, after Diao scored and went off injured.
• 21 October: United beaten 4-1, Paz with two goals and the assist for Douvikas, Ramón with the fourth.

Como’s Champions League goal log already runs to 10, and Paz has had a hand in the Leipzig, Feyenoord and United nights. He arrived from Real Madrid Castilla in 2024, stayed instead of going back, and has become the attacking reference in a young squad Fàbregas keeps asking to play with a clear idea. The coach said some of his players were on only their third Champions League appearance of their careers.

What the Sinigaglia Numbers Show

United finished with more attempts, which will be used as a defence in some dressing rooms and should not be. Como put the ball on target twice as often and led the game from the second minute in front of 10,875, with Sven Jablonski refereeing a 18:45 CET kickoff.

UEFA FULL-TIME SNAPSHOT

• Attempts: Como 11 (8 on target), United 13 (4 on target).
• Possession: Como 54 percent, United 46 percent, after Como held 62 percent in the first half.
• Saves: Butez 3, Lammens 4, with Lammens also denying Paz a hat-trick.
• Corners: United 4, Como 1, a split that did not match the score.

Como committed 10 fouls to United’s 11 and still looked like the side that wanted the ball in dangerous areas. The yellows went to Marc-Oliver Kempf for the hosts and to Santos, Baleba and Shea Lacey for the visitors. Paz was withdrawn in the 80th minute with the job done. Fàbregas later said he told his players to slow the tempo at 4-0 because Sassuolo come on Saturday, and that he regretted the late goal that followed.

Bournemouth Arrive With United Still Winless

Como’s next Champions League date is at Lens on 4 November, then AEK Athens at home, Real Betis away, Paris Saint-Germain at the Sinigaglia, and Barcelona on the last matchday. United host Roma on 3 November, then go to Sporting CP, meet Leipzig at home, face Bayern Munich, and finish at Villarreal. Those lists will move. The Wednesday night will not.

This was Manchester United we were up against tonight, it doesn’t matter if they are struggling at the moment, we must never forget that some of our players were having the third Champions League game of their entire careers. Winning this way is very satisfying, but this is where it gets difficult, playing the same way on Saturday in Serie A.

Cesc Fàbregas, Como head coach, to Sky Sport Italia

United host Bournemouth on Sunday still looking for a first win in seven games. Como host Sassuolo on Saturday with their coach telling them to keep their feet on the ground after a 4-1 that already sits in the table, above City, with five matches still to play.