Nico Paz shines, with Douvikas and Ramon also scoring: Como crushes Manchester United

The match between Como—playing in its very first season in Europe—and Manchester United, a club that has won the Champions League three times, ended with a resounding 4-1 victory. At the ‘Sinigaglia’ stadium, in the match counting toward Matchday 3 of the Champions League group stage, it was no contest: taking the lead less than two minutes in thanks to Nico Paz, Como ran riot in the second half with goals from Douvikas, Nico Paz again, and Ramon, crushing the Red Devils’ resistance.

The first goal was a true gem: Paz collected the ball at the edge of the box, took aim, and fired it into the net with a shot that Lammens had no chance of stopping, immediately sending the fans of Fabregas’s team into a frenzy. Como easily controlled the game and left very little space for Michael Carrick’s men, who—aside from a relatively dangerous shot by Matheus Cunha in stoppage time (the ball went just wide)—failed to create anything truly significant in a first half that saw Como go into halftime leading 1-0.

Despite a couple of substitutions by the Red Devils after halftime (Baleba and Diallo in, Andrey Santos and Cunha out), Como doubled their lead 4 minutes into the second half: a great counterattack by the home team saw Nico Paz play a deep ball to Douvikas, who timed his run perfectly against the opposing defense and made it 2-0. In disarray, United conceded a third goal to their opponents in the 12th minute: a mistake by Baleba allowed Nico Paz to recover the ball, race toward the goal, and finish confidently to make it 3-0 for Como.

But it didn’t end there, because in the 31st minute, Jacobo Ramon—on one of his attacking runs—was the final recipient of a long ball played by Como without the opponents being able to interrupt the play: the Spaniard’s header made it 4-0, from there, Como shifted into cruise control (with Fabregas substituting Nico Paz, among others, in the 35th minute, thus giving him the chance to receive a standing ovation from the home crowd), while United was left with the meager consolation of a goal by Joshua Zirkzee in the 91st minute. The final score was 4-1, and Como moved up to 6 points in the standings.