Fabregas manages a stretched Como squad and Thauvin's threat at Lens
Cesc Fabregas says Como must handle a 'wild atmosphere' at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis and contain Florian Thauvin, all while nursing a squad thinned by injuries and a congested fixture list.
Cesc Fabregas has told Como to brace for "a wild atmosphere" when they travel to RC Lens in the Champions League on Wednesday, framing the trip to the Stade Bollaert-Delelis as both a threat and an opportunity his side should relish rather than fear.
The match kicks off at 20.00 GMT, with Fabregas speaking to Sky Sport Italia ahead of it, as reported by Football Italia. Como are unbeaten at home in their first ever Champions League campaign, winning both of their matches at the Giuseppe Sinigaglia Stadium and scoring four goals in total across victories over RB Leipzig and Manchester United. Away from home, the picture has been different: Como lost their only away fixture so far, at Feyenoord.
That split matters context for Wednesday. A raucous away crowd amplifies exactly the kind of pressure that can expose a team still building its road form, and Fabregas drew on his own experience of playing at the ground for Monaco to make the point directly, saying he loves "nights like this" because the passion is palpable even in the warm-up.
Why Thauvin changes the calculation
Fabregas singled out Florian Thauvin, who has flourished back in France after a spell at Udinese, as the player who decides matches for Lens. He called him "an incredible player" with "huge quality" who "scores a lot of goals", and described him as the side's reference point.
That assessment points to a specific defensive job for Como: nullifying a single, high-quality attacking threat rather than simply managing Lens's overall shape. A team organised around one difference-maker invites opponents to double up on him in wide areas and in the half-spaces he is likely to drift into, and Fabregas's language suggests his side will plan their press and their marking around denying Thauvin time on the ball rather than treating Lens as a uniform threat.
Managing a squad stretched across three fronts
Como will have only 15 players available for the Lens match because of Champions League squad-list restrictions, Fabregas said, a constraint that compounds an injury list already missing Trevoh Chalobah, Moise Kean, Jesus Rodriguez, Assane Diao and Jayden Addai. Chalobah is not ready for Wednesday, with his fitness for Sunday's Serie A match against Inter still to be assessed.
Fabregas framed this as part of a wider shift in how Como must approach a season with far more fixtures than the club has faced before: 39 games in his first season in charge, 43 in his second, and now a projected 47 to 48, possibly more. He said that increase forces the club to balance energy levels differently across games rather than push for maximum output in every one.
He also pointed to a specific lapse from last season as a lesson: Como were strong for the first 60 minutes of matches but regularly fell away late on. Managing that kind of in-game fatigue, rather than simply accumulating talent, is now a stated priority, and it shapes how he is likely to approach rotation and substitutions against both Lens and Inter.
Despite the continental occasion, Fabregas was explicit that Serie A remains the priority competition for Como, a stance that explains why he is prepared to field a weakened side at some point this week if it protects the squad for Sunday's game against Inter.
What a positive result would open up
Como are no longer approaching these Champions League nights as pure underdogs, but Fabregas was careful to keep ambitions contained to the next fixture rather than the competition as a whole. He said a good result against Lens would prompt the club to reassess how it approaches the final four games of the league phase, but repeated that there is no value in looking beyond the match directly in front of them.
Before turning to the football, Fabregas addressed the death of Tenerife striker Jesus de Miguel, who died following an accident during a Spanish second-division match against FC Andorra. He said the news was difficult to process as both a football person and a parent, and sent condolences to the player's family and teammates.
Como's trip to Lens will test whether their home dominance in Europe can translate on the road, with Chalobah's fitness and the balance of the squad for Sunday's visit from Inter likely to shape how much Fabregas is willing to risk in France.