Como had already put four past Manchester United at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia when Fabregas, by his own account, decided the game was done.

“I regret the last ten minutes because I was the one who told the team to slow down the tempo because there’s another match and at 4-0 we could manage things a little,” Fabregas told reporters.

“I told the players to stop running and stay in the middle and that is something I regret because I’m the first to always push them to fight until the end.”

Joshua Zirkzee duly punished the drop in intensity with a goal in the first minute of stoppage time, cutting the scoreline to 4-1. Fabregas called those closing minutes “my fault”.

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Nico Paz ran the game

The Argentine playmaker curled Como ahead 118 seconds in and added a second in the 57th minute. ESPN’s match report logs his goals in the 2nd and 57th minutes.

In between, Anastasios Douvikas slotted home in the 49th minute and Jacobo Ramón headed in from a corner on 76 minutes. Paz was involved in three of the four goals.

Carrick running out of answers

Michael Carrick made two half-time substitutions, sending on Matheus Cunha and Andrey Santos, and later withdrew captain Bruno Fernandes. None of it changed the pattern of the match.

United have now gone seven matches without a win across all competitions. The 4-1 defeat in Italy followed a 2-0 loss at Atlético Madrid the previous week, and ESPN called the night one of the most embarrassing European defeats in United’s history.

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Carrick ended the match applauding the away end apologetically. His side host Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday.

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