Como's stretched squad meets Fiorentina's habit of starting slowly
Cesc Fabregas hands Mattia Liberali his first Como start as Paolo Vanoli tries to stop Fiorentina conceding the game's opening moments, with both sides shaped by recent setbacks.
Cesc Fabregas gave 19-year-old Mattia Liberali his first Como start against Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, a selection forced in part by a squad that is running thin in its first-ever European campaign.
Como arrived in Florence having taken only one point from their last two Serie A matches and having lost their first competitive European fixture, away to Feyenoord in midweek, according to Football Italia.
That defeat cost them further personnel. Assane Diao picked up an injury in Rotterdam and joins Moise Kean on the treatment table, while Yan Couto withdrew during the warm-up in Florence and was replaced by Ivan Smolcic.
Why Como's debut in Europe is biting now
Como have never played continental football before this season, and the toll is showing in the calendar rather than the table alone. A midweek trip to Feyenoord followed by a weekend fixture in Florence is the kind of turnaround the club simply has not had to manage until now, and it arrives just as injuries to Diao and Kean reduce the attacking options Fabregas can call on.
Fabregas framed the situation as one of squad-wide adjustment rather than crisis. "It is always difficult, because there are so many players who deserve time, and it's also tough when there are so many games close together," he told DAZN Italia, adding that some of his players are "getting used to playing with our system" and that the group needs to reach "the same level" together.
That is the context for handing a competitive debut to Liberali rather than easing him in from the bench. Fabregas described the teenager as having grown physically since joining the club and said he has no hesitation in trusting young players, provided they show "courage" and work for the team, a standard he said has applied to the many academy products who have come through at Como before him.
Fiorentina's problem is in the opening exchanges, not the finish
Fiorentina's recent form tells a story of promise undone early. Paolo Vanoli's return to the dugout in place of Fabio Grosso brought an immediate 4-2 win and a draw against Napoli, but a 2-1 defeat to Genoa pulled the club back toward the relegation zone, Football Italia reported.
Vanoli's own diagnosis points to a recurring pattern rather than a one-off lapse. Looking back at the Genoa match, he said that if Fiorentina start from the second half, the issue is clear: "we've always gone behind, so that means we need to start better and defend as a unit."
That distinction matters tactically. A team that repeatedly concedes first is not simply unlucky in one passage of play; it suggests a structural issue in how the side sets its defensive shape in the opening minutes, before patterns of pressing and cover have settled. Vanoli's call to "defend as a unit" points to collective organisation rather than individual errors as the fix he is seeking.
On personnel, Vanoli left open the possibility of pairing Beto and Pellegrino together up front, calling it "purely a tactical decision" built around using what he described as two hungry forwards. Fielding both would represent a shift from a single focal point to a strike partnership, a choice that typically trades defensive solidity in midfield for more direct presence against opposition centre-backs.
Vanoli said his broader aim is to find "greater consistency," a phrase that applies as much to team selection as to results. Fiorentina have shown they can beat decent sides and hold others, but the Genoa defeat suggests that without a settled defensive foundation from kick-off, those performances will keep being undone.
What the match hinges on
Como's selection problems and Fiorentina's slow starts point in opposite directions tactically. Fabregas is managing scarcity by trusting youth and squad rotation, while Vanoli is trying to impose discipline on a group whose individual quality has not been in question so much as its collective start to matches. Whichever issue proves more costly on the day is likely to decide the outcome at the Franchi.