Three substitutions, one conceded goal, and a head coach who refused to let it slide. That is the small storm Cesc Fabregas was still working through on Wednesday night in northern France, moments after his Como side had dismantled Lens 9-1 in the Champions League.
Ruben Aguilar’s 65th-minute corner volley was the one blot on the night, and Fabregas traced it straight back to the changes he had just made.
“I am angry over the goal we conceded, as we changed something in our defending with the three substitutions,” he told reporters.
Fabregas also knew the scorer. The pair played together at Monaco, which took some of the sting out of it.
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“Plus it was scored by a former teammate of mine, I played with Ruben Aguilar at Monaco, and I told him I’d never seen you score a goal like that before. It was honestly a great goal,” he said.
An Italian away record falls in northern France
The scoreline was historic in several ways. No Italian club had previously managed seven away goals in European Cup or Champions League history, a mark that also makes Como the Italian side with the most goals scored in a single Champions League match, surpassing the seven Juventus put past Olympiacos in 2003. According to the Associated Press, Como also became the first away team ever to score nine goals in a Champions League match. The nine goals equalled Bayern Munich’s own total from their 9-2 win over Dinamo Zagreb in September 2024, while the eight-goal winning margin matched the modern-era record previously set by Liverpool (8-0 Besiktas) and Real Madrid (8-0 Malmö).
Anastasios Douvikas was the main engine of the rout. The Greek striker opened the scoring early, added his second before the break and completed his hat-trick in the second half, taking him to six goals in this season’s Champions League, joint top scorer in the competition. Nico Paz, Lucas Da Cunha, Marc-Oliver Kempf, Mattia Liberali, Martin Baturina and 18-year-old debutant Matteo Papaccioli added the others.
Fourth in the league phase
For a club making its Champions League debut, the scoreboard reads strangely. Wednesday was only Como’s fourth ever match in the competition. They have won three of them, Lens away, plus RB Leipzig and Manchester United (4-1) at home, either side of a 3-2 loss at Feyenoord, and sit fourth in the 36-team league phase after four rounds.
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The win also stretched Como’s streak to six consecutive victories across all competitions.
Fabregas spent part of his press conference pulling his young squad back down to earth, warning them to stay humble and keep learning rather than assume the next result would come as easily. “It is also our fourth ever Champions League game, so four is the key number here,” he said, adding that everything had gone his team’s way and that he was happy with the night.
Como’s next league-phase assignment is at home to AEK Athens.
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