How Como 1907 beat Manchester United 4-1

Diogo Dalot curled an early shot wide. Moments later, Nico Paz gave Como 1907 the lead. By the end of the night, Paz had scored twice, Manchester United had conceded four, and Como had another Champions League win at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia. The score drew attention to the club’s Indonesian-backed ownership, but the goals offer a more useful explanation of its rise. Como had spent several seasons assembling players who could combine through the center, run behind a defense, and change an attack from the bench.

How convincing was Como’s win?

United finished with more attempts in UEFA’s count. Como made more of its shooting positions, putting eight efforts on target to United’s four. The difference helps explain why the result was deserved even if the three-goal margin was unusually emphatic.

Expected goals estimate the likelihood of scoring from the chances a team creates. Como’s 2.04 to 1.05 advantage supports the win; scoring four times also shows how sharply its players finished. United had chances of its own, including Dalot’s early effort, but too few of its attempts made the goalkeeper work.

Paz’s quick opener affected the match before either side had spent long at level scores. It left United chasing, while Como could look for space as its opponent advanced. The lead helped Como, though it cannot account for the different ways the next three goals arrived.

Long before Como could recruit players from Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Manchester City, it needed the stability to climb through the Italian divisions. A change of ownership in 2019 gave the club that backing while it was still playing in Serie D, beginning a rebuild that would take several seasons.

Who bought Como 1907?

SENT Entertainment Ltd acquired Como on April 4, 2019. The UK-based company is associated with Indonesia’s Hartono family and the Djarum group. Mirwan Suwarso later became club president, while Carlalberto Ludi worked on the football side as sporting director. Their roles should not be folded into one vague story about “the owners” making every decision.

Como’s lowest point came before the takeover. After financial trouble and a failure to gain admission to the professional league, the club restarted in Serie D in 2017–18. SENT arrived during Como’s 2018–19 promotion season. That timing matters: the new ownership backed the years that followed, but the club was already competing for a way out of the fourth tier when it was acquired.

The climb took several steps:

• 2020–21: Como won Serie C and moved up to Serie B.

• 2023–24: Promotion returned the club to Serie A after a 21-year absence.

• 2024–25: Como finished 10th in its first season back.

• 2025–26: Fourth place, 71 points, and 65 goals earned the club its first Champions League place.

That fourth-place finish is stronger evidence of Como’s level than one European score. Across a league season, the team had to find answers against opponents that offered different kinds of resistance. The 4-1 win over United showed some of those answers in a single match.

Where Como’s starting eleven came from

Como did not build the side that faced United through one kind of transfer. Some starters arrived with years of senior experience. Others came from major clubs where regular first-team minutes were harder to secure. Yan Couto was on loan; Álex Valle and Máximo Perrone had first joined on loan before Como signed them permanently.

The distinctions in that middle column are easy to miss. Perrone came from Manchester City on loan, established himself, and stayed through a permanent move. Valle followed a similar path from Barcelona. Couto joined from Dortmund on loan for this season. Paz signed from Real Madrid in 2024 and remains at Como for 2026–27 under an agreement that gives Madrid a buy-back option for 2027–28. Describing all four as straightforward purchases would get the squad-building story wrong.

Como also had useful options beyond its starters. Maxence Caqueret, signed from Lyon, replaced Baturina. Kaiki arrived from Cruzeiro on a loan deal with an obligation to buy. He came on for Da Cunha and later crossed for Ramón’s header. The fourth goal depended on a change Fàbregas could make during the match.

Why these players fit together

A list of former clubs can make Como look like a collection of recruits from bigger teams. Their jobs against United tell a better story.

Da Cunha joined from Nice in January 2023, before Como reached Serie A. He remained as the squad and the demands on it changed. By the United match, he could combine with the newer arrivals rather than simply make way for them. His exchange with Baturina helped bring Paz into the move for Douvikas’s goal.

Paz and Douvikas supplied different parts of the same attack. Paz could receive near the area and play the final pass; Douvikas gave him a run beyond the defenders. Without that run, United could have concentrated more heavily on Paz’s position in front of them. Baturina’s involvement earlier in the move mattered for the same reason: United had to respond to the players connecting before Paz released the ball.

The defense shows a different recruitment choice. Kempf arrived from Hertha with extensive senior experience, while Ramón came from Real Madrid seeking a larger first-team role. Both started against United, and Ramón later scored. His header did not prove Como had recruited him as a goal scorer. It showed that a defender could add a penalty-area threat when Kaiki supplied the right delivery.

The resources behind these signings were substantial, but money alone does not explain their combinations. Ludi’s continuity, Fàbregas’s coaching, and players who stayed through promotion all helped give the newer arrivals a functioning team to enter.

How the players combined to beat United

Como’s four goals posed different problems for United’s defense:

• Paz’s early shot: Dalot missed United’s first clear opening, then Paz scored from the edge of the area. United had to chase the game almost from the start, although the early lead alone does not explain Como’s later chances.

• The pass behind: Da Cunha and Baturina combined before Paz released Douvikas. Their connections brought Paz into position to make the final pass, while Douvikas’s run gave him a target beyond the defensive line.

• The intercepted pass: Paz took possession from a pass by halftime substitute Carlos Baleba, drove down the right, and finished low. United’s problem here was different: it lost the ball before its defense could reset.

• The left-side cross: Substitute Kaiki delivered from the flank and center back Ramón headed in the fourth. Como could still threaten the box without another central combination or Paz carry.

Paz was involved in three goals. His two finishes will be remembered, but the pass for Douvikas shows why the players around him were so important. When Como connected its attackers, Paz could create for someone else; when United gave the ball away, he could go directly to goal. Kaiki and Ramón then produced a goal from a route that did not require him at all.

The result has limits

Como earned the win, though the score should not become the sole measure of either team.

• United’s selection: Leny Yoro was suspended, while Lisandro Martínez and Luke Shaw were among the unavailable players. Matthijs de Ligt was making his first appearance in 325 days. Those absences affected United’s options, but the team still had the first clear opening and took 13 attempts in UEFA’s count.

• Como’s recent resistance: Como lost 3-2 away to Feyenoord and drew 0-0 with Roma. Roma played much of the second half with 10 men, yet Como could not turn its possession into a goal. The attack will not find the same openings every week.

• The size of the score: Como created better chances than United, according to Opta’s expected goals measure, and put twice as many attempts on target. Four goals from 2.04 expected goals still represent particularly effective finishing. The performance was strong without requiring every future meeting to look like a 4-1 game.

The Roma match offers a useful test for what comes next. When an opponent closes central space and protects its first pass after winning the ball, Como may have to work longer for an opening. United allowed Douvikas a pass to run onto and gave Paz a turnover he could attack. Como took both opportunities.

What Como’s rise means now

The 2019 takeover gave Como the backing to keep building after each promotion. Its fourth-place Serie A finish showed that the squad could sustain results; the United match showed how several of its attacking pieces could work together on a European night.

• Recruitment gave Como choices: experienced starters, young players seeking regular minutes, loan-to-permanent moves, and longer-serving players all contributed to this side.

• The goals had different sources: a Paz shot, a move finished by Douvikas, an intercepted pass, and a Kaiki cross asked different things of United’s defense.

• Consistency remains open: Como’s draw with Roma and defeat at Feyenoord show that one emphatic home win has not settled how reliably it can create against organized opponents.

SENT bought the club in 2019, when Como was still climbing out of Serie D. Seven years later, the team that faced United contained players recruited from across Europe and others who had grown with the project. The result belonged to both parts of that work: the time it took to build the squad and the decisions its players made on the pitch.

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Toobit Prediction Market presents event-based outcomes across sports and other global events where available. Como’s match against Manchester United has already finished. For future football fixtures, useful reference points from this game include the quality of the first chances, whether Como can connect its creators to Douvikas, how securely an opponent passes after regaining the ball, and the space created by the first goal.

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