Como shines in Champions League debut as Baturina leads the way
On a night that will live for a long time on the shores of Lake Como, a club making its first steps in Europe played like it had been here for years.
Como 1907 didn’t just debut in the UEFA Champions League. They tore into it.
Cesc Fabregas’s side dismantled RB Leipzig 4-1, a scoreline that flattered the Germans more than the Italians. The energy, the precision, the swagger — it all belonged to Como.
Baturina writes Como’s first European chapter
Every great European story needs a first goal, a first roar, a first moment when a club realises it belongs.
For Como, that arrived in the 15th minute, and it came from the man who would own the night: Martin Baturina.
The Croatian playmaker, already earmarked as the heartbeat of Fabregas’s project, found the net to register Como’s first-ever European strike. It was more than a finish; it was a statement. The kind of goal that settles nerves and sends belief surging through a team in uncharted territory.
From there, Baturina didn’t just influence the game. He dictated it.
Dropping into pockets, turning away from pressure, always half a second ahead, he gave Leipzig’s midfield a problem they never solved. It was the sort of performance that draws inevitable comparisons with Luka Modric — not because of nationality, but because of the same elastic movement, the same understanding of space, the same calm in chaos.
UEFA’s Technical Observer Group saw what everyone else did and named him Player of the Match. Few would argue.
Douvikas and Diao punish Leipzig
Once the first goal went in, Como played with the freedom of a side that suddenly realised the stage suited them.
The pressure told again when Tasos Douvikas doubled the lead, finishing off a move that again had Baturina’s fingerprints all over it. A sharp assist, a cool strike, and Leipzig were staring at a mountain before half-time.
Fabregas’s team didn’t retreat after the break. They accelerated.
Assane Diao made it 3-0 in the second half, and by then Como were enjoying themselves. Leipzig, a regular in this competition, looked rattled by the intensity and clarity of a supposed newcomer. Como pressed, combined, and broke lines with the confidence of a side that had been planning for this night for months.
Leipzig did finally find a response through Eredin Maksimovic, who pulled one back to deny the hosts a clean sheet. It changed the score, not the story.
Any hint of a late twist vanished as stoppage time approached.
Nico Paz slipped a pass into Maximo Perrone in the 90th minute, and the midfielder finished to make it 4-1. The final touch on a debut that felt closer to a statement of intent than a one-off spectacle.
Calm words from the man of the moment
For all the noise around him, Baturina spoke like a player determined not to get carried away.
“It’s an amazing feeling to score my first Champions League goal for Como, but it’s thanks to the whole team,” he told UEFA afterwards. “We showed great intensity on the pitch. We prepared for the match like any other game and didn’t want the atmosphere to affect us.”
The contrast was striking: a historic night for the club, but a measured, almost cold-blooded approach from within the dressing room.
In a separate interview with CBS Sports Golazo, Baturina allowed a little more of the emotion to show as he reflected on scoring Como’s first goal in the competition. Yet when the conversation turned to ambition, he shifted straight back to pragmatism.
“It’s a beautiful feeling, I’m very proud of myself and the whole team,” he said. “You never know what happens in the Champions League, you play against different styles all the time. We just have to play game by game, try to win as much as possible, and try to make it out of the group.”
No bold declarations. No talk of miracles. Just a clear-eyed understanding of how unforgiving this tournament can be.
Fabregas’s blueprint takes shape
If this was a glimpse of Fabregas’s vision, it was an enticing one.
His team pressed with aggression, passed with purpose and trusted their creators to take responsibility. Baturina thrived in that environment, but he was far from alone. Douvikas, Diao, Paz, Perrone — each left a mark on the game, each looked entirely at ease on a stage that can shrink players.
The performance suggested a side built not just to enjoy the occasion, but to compete.
That’s the real significance here. Como didn’t look like tourists. They looked like they intend to stay.
From Europe back to Serie A
The challenge now is to carry this surge of confidence back into domestic life.
Como return to Serie A on Monday, when they host Parma at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia. The setting will be familiar; the expectations, suddenly, a little different.
Baturina knows it. The city knows it.
“I’m very happy and proud that we won our first-ever Champions League match,” he said. “I’m sure the whole city is very happy too, and now we can celebrate.”
The celebrations will come. But after a night like this, the real question is not how Como enjoyed their debut.
It’s how far this team, with this coach and this playmaker at its core, can push the limits of a story that has only just begun.
