Como 1907 Dominates Leipzig in Champions League Debut

On nights like this, a club’s history seems to fold in on itself. Old stories, old struggles, all of it suddenly pointing toward one moment. For Como 1907, that moment arrived with a roar on their UEFA Champions League debut — a ruthless 4-1 dismantling of RB Leipzig that felt less like a first step and more like a statement.

Cesc Fabregas stood on the touchline for his first game as a Champions League head coach. His team played as if they had been here for years.

Baturina writes Como’s first European line

The noise had barely settled when Martin Baturina etched his name into Como folklore.

On 15 minutes, the Croatian midfielder — the one earmarked as the creative heartbeat of this side — struck the club’s first-ever goal in European competition. One clean finish, one historic release of tension. Como’s debut in the continent’s elite tournament had its opening line, and it belonged to their No. 10.

The goal did more than change the score. It changed the posture of the entire night. Como stopped looking like newcomers and started playing like hosts.

Leipzig never really recovered from that early punch.

Douvikas and Diao punish stunned Leipzig

The pressure didn’t ease. It grew.

Baturina, drifting between the lines, kept finding pockets of space that Leipzig simply couldn’t close. His vision unlocked the second goal as Tasos Douvikas doubled the lead, finishing off a move the Croatian had stitched together with an incisive assist. Two goals up, and suddenly Como were not just competing — they were dictating.

Leipzig, a regular presence in Europe in recent seasons, looked rattled. Their passing grew hurried, their pressing disjointed. Como smelled weakness and refused to retreat.

After the break, Assane Diao delivered what felt like the decisive blow. A sharp, composed finish made it 3-0, and the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia’s European dream turned into a full-scale celebration. Every attack carried menace, every transition seemed to slice through Leipzig’s shape.

The German side finally found a response through Eredin Maksimovic, who pulled one back to make it 3-1 and briefly quieten the noise. But it never felt like the start of a comeback. It felt like a consolation.

Perrone seals a ruthless night

Any lingering doubt vanished in the final minute of normal time.

Nico Paz, another of Fabregas’s young technicians, slipped a pass through the Leipzig back line, and Maximo Perrone finished clinically to make it 4-1. It was a goal that summed up Como’s performance: confident, precise, unafraid of the occasion.

Four goals on debut. A heavyweight opponent brushed aside. A stadium living a night it will talk about for decades.

Baturina runs the show

The scoreboard told one story. Baturina told another.

Operating with the swagger of a player far beyond his 23 years, the Croatian international owned the midfield. Constantly on the half-turn, always a step ahead, he controlled tempo and territory in a way that drew immediate comparisons to his illustrious compatriot Luka Modric — comparisons that have followed him for some time and felt particularly apt here.

UEFA’s Technical Observer Group did not hesitate. Baturina was named Player of the Match, recognition of a display that blended creativity, work rate, and calm in the eye of a historic storm.

He refused to indulge in the hype.

Speaking to UEFA afterwards, Baturina insisted the team had treated the night like any other game, crediting the collective intensity and preparation rather than his own landmark strike. The message was clear: this was a team performance, not a one-man show.

Later, in conversation with CBS Sports Golazo, he allowed a little more of the emotion to surface. Scoring Como’s first Champions League goal, he admitted, carried a special weight. Yet when the talk turned to ambitions, he cut through the noise with a pragmatic line — qualification from the group would come only by adapting to different styles and taking each game as it comes.

No grand declarations. Just a steady focus on the path ahead.

Eyes back on Serie A — but expectations have shifted

For all the euphoria, Como’s season will not be defined by one European night. The schedule offers no time to bask in the glow.

Fabregas’s side return to Serie A duty on Monday, when they host Parma at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia. The same ground that just witnessed a European awakening will now demand consistency in the grind of domestic football.

Baturina, still riding the high of a debut few will forget, spoke of pride — for himself, for the team, for a city that has waited a long time to dream this big again. He knows the challenge now is to turn a magical opening chapter into a sustained campaign.

Como have arrived on the continental stage with a flourish. The question, after a night like this, is no longer whether they belong, but how far this fearless group can push the story.