Como beat Manchester United 4-1 at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, in front of 10,875 spectators, in the third round of the Champions League league phase. Nico Paz scored after two minutes, Tasos Douvikas added a second in the 49th minute, Paz scored again in the 57th minute, and Jacobo Ramón headed in the fourth in the 76th minute, before Joshua Zirkzee scored for United in the first minute of stoppage time at the end of the match. The win takes Como to six points from three games, with two wins and a defeat, and leaves them ninth in the table, while United have three points and are 21st.
The argument that Como deserved the result starts with their efficiency. They had 11 shots, of which eight were on target, and four of those became goals, so they scored four goals from 11 shots. Paz scored twice, with a left-footed shot from the centre of the box in the 2nd minute, assisted by Lucas da Cunha, and another left-footed shot from the right side of the box in the 57th, and he also made the pass for Douvikas to score in the 49th minute, so he was directly involved in three of the four goals. Ramón’s header in the 76th minute came from an assist by Kaiki, and the home side had 54.8 percent of the possession. United, by contrast, had four shots on target from 13, so most of their attempts did not test the goalkeeper.
The counter-argument is that United had more attempts and more corners than Como, and did not lose the match through lack of effort alone. They finished with 13 shots against 11, and won four corners against one, and Zirkzee’s goal was scored from the centre of the box, with a cross from Amad Diallo, so there was a response at the end. Andrey Santos was booked in the 25th minute and Carlos Baleba in the 50th, and Shea Lacey in the 86th, so the visitors had three players booked and were chasing the match for most of its length. Marc Oliver Kempf was booked for Como in the 84th minute. The result, however, cannot be explained by United’s chances. They were 1-0 down after two minutes and 3-0 down after 57, and the late goal did not change the outcome.
The result matters for United because the defeat leaves them on three points, with one win and two defeats, a goal difference of minus one with five scored and six conceded, in 21st place in a table in which the top eight places are held by teams on at least six points. For Como, it is a major result in front of 10,875 spectators, and it takes their goal difference to plus five, with 10 goals scored and five conceded.
Como played to their strengths and scored four goals from eight shots on target, with Paz at the centre of three of them. United’s late goal was a small consolation, and the defeat leaves them with work to do in the remaining matches.