Fabregas tempers Como's euphoria after 9-1 rout of Lens
Como's first Champions League away win arrived in record-breaking fashion in Lens, but Cesc Fabregas says the result changes nothing about how his squad must behave this week.
Como beat Lens 9-1 away in the Champions League, their first victory on the road in the competition, with Tasos Douvikas scoring a hat-trick and six other players finding the net, Football Italia reported.
The scoreline is the heaviest an Italian side has ever managed away from home in the Champions League or the old European Cup, surpassing anything a previous Serie A club had produced on the continent.
Cesc Fabregas, speaking to Sky Sport Italia after the game, called it "a wonderful night for Como," but immediately pivoted to caution, saying the squad "need to keep their feet on the ground, be humble, keep learning."
Building from the back produced nine clinical goals
Douvikas's treble took his tally to a goal in each of his four Champions League appearances, making him the competition's current top scorer, according to Football Italia.
Nico Paz, Lucas Da Cunha, Marc-Oliver Kempf, Mattia Liberali, Martin Baturina and teenage debutant Matteo Papaccioli were the other scorers, a spread across the pitch rather than a single outlet carrying the win.
What stands out tactically is not just the number of goals but how most of them were built, with Fabregas noting that the majority came from sustained passing sequences worked from deep rather than isolated moments of individual quality.
That matters for how Como are read as a Champions League side: a team that controls possession and progresses it through structured build-up is a different proposition from one that scores on the break, and it is the pattern Fabregas has been trying to establish since Como's run of six straight wins in all competitions began.
A defensive wrinkle exposed by substitutions
Lens's consolation, a volley from a corner kick, meant the French side are still without a clean sheet in this season's Champions League, Football Italia noted.
Fabregas was unusually direct about his own team's role in conceding it, saying he was "angry over the goal we conceded, as we changed something in our defending with the three substitutions."
That is a specific admission: altering personnel late in a game that is already won can disturb defensive organisation even when the result is not in doubt, and Fabregas flagged it rather than letting the scoreline paper over it.
He also noted the goal came from Ruben Aguilar, a former teammate of his at Monaco, adding a personal footnote to an otherwise forgettable concession for Como.
Why left-footed balance isn't a philosophy, just a product
It was pointed out that eight players in Como's squad are left-footed, with five on the pitch together against Lens, a concentration Fabregas suggested is rare outside a club like Arsenal.
Fabregas said he has "a weakness for left-footed players," explaining that the ones he played alongside often carried a different class and technique, but he was clear this was not deliberate squad planning.
The more important factor, in his telling, is whether players understand the style Como are trying to produce, with the preference for left-footers a byproduct of recruitment rather than a stated system.
Como now sit fourth in the Champions League's league-phase table after four matches, a format in which all 36 teams play in a single group-style standing before a knockout play-off round determines who advances.
Their record so far includes 4-1 home wins over RB Leipzig and Manchester United and a 3-2 home defeat to Feyenoord, so the Lens result gave them their first away win in the competition's current format.
Fabregas flagged the run of fixtures ahead as the real test: Como next play AEK Athens at home, then Real Betis away, before closing the league phase with Paris Saint-Germain and a trip to Barcelona on 27 January.
He said he wants to "get as many points as possible in the early fixtures" given PSG and Barcelona represent, in his words, a "superior level," and that his priority now is recovering players missing through injury, particularly in attack.
Before any of that, Como turn to Serie A, where Sunday brings a home match against reigning champions Inter and marks the ninth game in a congested run before the international break.
Fabregas described it as the "final sprint" before a chance to rest the squad, underlining that the scale of the Lens result will not change his approach to selection or rotation this week.