Cesc Fabregas remained calm ahead of Como's Champions League debut, revealing he has told his players to treat their clash with RB Leipzig like any other game.
Leipzig are the visitors at Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia on Thursday in what will be Como's first taste of European football in their entire history.
Fabregas led Como to a fourth-place finish in Serie A last season, and they have started well this term with seven points from their opening three league matches.
But all eyes are now on the Champions League. Como will be the 16th different Italian team to appear in the European Cup/Champions League.
And they come up against a Leipzig side whose only two previous Champions League matches against Italian teams ended in defeat. They lost 3-2 to Juventus and 1-0 to Inter in the 2024-25 group stage, a campaign where they lost seven of their eight league-phase games.
In addition, only Viktoria Plzen (19) are currently on a longer ongoing run in the competition without a clean sheet, with Leipzig conceding in each of their last 18 such matches.
With the emotion that surrounds Como and their eagerly anticipated Champions League bow, Fabregas remained composed in his pre-match press conference.
"It is a game like any other; we must try to win, just like we do every match," Como told reporters.
"I understand the emotions of the city and the club, but we must also do well to remember it is just a football match.
"Leipzig are a great team, and we must view this as an opportunity to keep growing. We want to be at the top, so we'll see how it goes, but we have faith."
UCL grinding pic.twitter.com/ztBTiASqM3
— Como1907 (@Como_1907) September 8, 2026
Como do, however, have players within their squad with Champions League experience.
Of their summer signings, Trevoh Chalobah, Alvaro Morata, Moise Kean, Yan Couto, and Robert Sanchez have all played in the Champions League.
Kean has only started six Champions League matches, but he has registered five goals and one assist in those six games, either scoring or assisting in five of them.
Fabregas himself played 104 Champions League matches between 2005 and 2018 for Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea, but never won the competition.
"I will choose whoever will help me achieve the objective, which is victory," Fabregas insisted when asked whether he would base his starting line-up on European experience.
"You've known me for two and a half years now; you realise that experience is of no real interest to me. Just look at what happened [on Tuesday].
"We saw players with over 100 Champions League games under their belts, and they made mistakes. So the best choice is whatever helps us to win.
"Look, I understand that the big theme here is that it's the first-ever Como game in the Champions League, but for the players, it has to be a game like all the others."
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