Promoted Como humiliates Manchester United 4-1 in Champions League

Como, playing in European competition for the first time in the club's history, beat Manchester United 4-1 in a Champions League league-phase match on Wednesday night at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, a result English and Italian outlets alike described as one of the most lopsided defeats of United's modern European history. Nico Paz scored twice, and goals from Anastasios Douvikas and Jacobo Ramón put the hosts out of sight before Joshua Zirkzee's stoppage-time consolation for United, according to the match report on ESPN and corroborating coverage from NBC Sports.

Paz opened the scoring after just two minutes, cutting inside after a challenge from Harry Maguire and finishing from the edge of the area. Douvikas doubled the lead early in the second half when Paz slipped him through on goal, and Paz completed his brace in the 57th minute after what both outlets described as a serious defensive error by United substitute Carlos Baleba. Jacobo Ramón headed in a fourth from close range in the 76th minute before Zirkzee, who had come on at the interval, pulled one back from an Amad Diallo cross in the first minute of stoppage time.

A lopsided scoreline, and a lopsided campaign

The result left Como with six points from three league-phase matches, two wins and one loss, while Manchester United dropped to three points from a win, a draw and two losses, a goal difference of minus one, according to the standings referenced in both match reports and the UEFA Champions League match centre for the fixture. For United it was a seventh match without a win across all competitions, following a run that had already included a 2-0 Champions League defeat at Atlético Madrid and a string of Premier League draws. United also went into the match missing several first-team players through injury or suspension, with Patrick Dorgu, Manuel Ugarte and Benjamin Šeško ruled out and defender Leny Yoro suspended after a red card against Atlético, per pre-match reporting that both English clubs' beat writers and the UEFA lineups page for the match reflected in the sides that started.

Bruno Fernandes, United's captain, was unusually blunt afterward in criticizing the team's tactical approach rather than simply its execution.

"It's a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man and sometimes leave a little bit of space in-behind. They have so many bodies behind the ball they make you run a lot, make people get frustrated."

Fernandes added that by the time United won the ball back, "the legs and the brain are much more difficult to make it work," a pointed comment reported by NBC Sports that was widely read as an implicit critique of manager Michael Carrick's setup.

Como's rapid rise

The defeat was also a measure of how far Como has traveled. The Lombardy club, owned by Indonesia's Hartono family through the Djarum conglomerate, was playing in Italy's lower divisions as recently as 2019 and did not return to Serie A until 2024, after more than two decades away from the top flight. Under head coach Cesc Fàbregas, Como finished fourth in Serie A last season to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in the club's 118-year history, a campaign that, according to UEFA's own Champions League page for the club, began with a 4-1 win over RB Leipzig and a narrow 3-2 loss at Feyenoord before Wednesday's result against United. Paz, an Argentina international who came through Real Madrid's academy before moving to Como, has emerged as the symbol of that rise; he was also credited by CBS Sports, in a social media post cited by NBC Sports, as the architect of what was called the biggest night in the club's history.

Mounting pressure on Carrick

For Manchester United, the result adds to a difficult autumn under Carrick, who was handed the job permanently last summer on the strength of an 11-5 record after taking over on an interim basis in January following Ruben Amorim's dismissal. That form helped United finish third in the Premier League and return to the Champions League this season, but the club has struggled to build on it, drawing three straight league matches before the trip to Como. The unrest around the squad spilled into public view earlier this month when defender Lisandro Martínez criticized the club's hierarchy and technical director Jason Wilcox over the summer transfer window following the Atlético Madrid defeat. Martínez apologized after meeting with Carrick and club leadership and was fined by the club, which declined to make the discipline public, according to Al Jazeera's report on the episode. Carrick had said at the time that the club considered the matter "not a drama for us as a group."

The Como defeat, following so soon after that controversy, is likely to renew scrutiny of Carrick's position, even though the club's hierarchy has shown no public sign of reconsidering its commitment to him after only a few months into a contract that runs through 2028.

What's next

Manchester United's next Champions League assignment comes in three weeks' time, giving Carrick a stretch of Premier League fixtures to try to arrest the winless run before European football returns. Como, meanwhile, sit well placed in the Champions League league phase table with two wins from three and face a run of fixtures that will test whether Wednesday's result was a breakthrough or a high-water mark for a club making its continental debut. Both clubs' build-ups to their next continental fixtures are expected to dominate pre-match coverage, with United's injury list and Carrick's tactical setup likely to remain the central questions.