Cesc Fábregas at Como: The Messi Friend Catapulting the Club into the Champions League

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Cesc Fábregas at Como: The Messi Friend Catapulting the Club into the Champions League.

The precise moment when the story changes direction comes on a Wednesday: Como wins 9:1 away to French club FC Lens. At that point, Lens sit fourth in their league, behind Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Arsenal. A few weeks later, the Italian club also occupied fourth place in Serie A, behind Lazio, Inter and Roma.

Como’s success is therefore more than just a theory about Fábregas’s ideas. The club is appearing in the Champions League for the first time in the 2025/26 season, and Fábregas is leading the team there. The journey began in 2022, when the Spaniard joined Como as a player at the age of 35.

A Club from Serie B Becomes a Champions League Protagonist

The plan from 2022

Fábregas committed himself for two seasons and also became a minority shareholder in the club. At the time, he explained that Como was a long-term project: “I’m here to bring Como into Serie A.” He later expanded that ambition to life beyond the pitch.

Owners Michael and Robert Hartono, who have led the club since 2019, wanted to return Como to Italy’s top flight. The club had not played in Serie A since the 2002/03 season. Before that, it had played 13 times in the top division and 33 times in Serie B. Under Fábregas, the club finished fourth in the 2025/26 season, securing its first-ever Champions League appearance.

Clarin therefore describes Fábregas as the coach who changed the club. His style of play is sufficiently attacking and distinctive to surprise people in Europe. At one point against Manchester United, Como led 4:0. Fábregas even asked his players to slow the pace because the gap had already become too large. He later regretted that decision publicly. The gesture shows how actively he steers the game, even when his team is clearly ahead.

Why Nico Paz Is Thriving Under Fábregas

A young player with great responsibility

Nico Paz is at the center of Como’s play. After the 4:1 win against Manchester United, Fábregas praised him not only for his two goals and assist. He said Paz’s creativity, dribbling and footballing intelligence had been “on another level.” The player had the vision, technique and mentality to become extraordinary.

This assessment fits Fábregas’s own biography. The Spaniard was trained at La Masia and belonged to the famous 1987 generation alongside Lionel Messi and Gerard Piqué. He met Messi at the age of 13 and moved to Arsenal at 16. He later returned to Barcelona and won two European Championships with Spain, as well as the 2010 World Cup. In that final, Fábregas supplied the pass that Andrés Iniesta converted into the decisive goal.

His footballing vision therefore comes not only from his work as a coach. He knows the position from personal experience: finding a free player, opening up space and recognizing chances. With Nico Paz, he looks for precisely these qualities and gives him the responsibility to make something of them.

The Owners Receive the Game Plan in Writing

24 hours before the match

What is unusual about Fábregas is not only what he plans with the ball, but also how he explains the club to its owners. Twenty-four hours before every match, the club’s executives receive a written tactical plan. It sets out how Como wants to have the ball, who drops back to open up space, who acts as the lock and who runs in which direction.

The reports are not intended for approval. They are designed to help the owners actually understand the game. After the match, a second, comparative report follows: What was implemented as planned, and what did not work?

Fábregas uses a concrete example from attack to illustrate this. If a striker fails to score, his explanation is not simply that the attacker missed. He says: “Today he did not have to score; he had to take two center-backs with him.” Anyone who does not understand that has not seen the game, only the result.

What Connects Fábregas With Messi and Como

A special relationship

The connection with Messi goes beyond that between a coached player and a famous name. Fábregas and Messi did not merely play together at La Masia. In the first Barcelona team they played together, they contested 123 matches, won LaLiga in 2012/13 and the 2011 UEFA Super Cup. The two families are also friends in private.

When his son Ciro wore Como’s shirt with the name Fábregas and the number 4, Cesc said he had given it to him personally. Messi, meanwhile, sent the boy more shirts. This closeness creates a picture that fits the coach’s style: Fábregas does not treat the club as a short-term project; instead, he passes on footballing knowledge both upward and downward.

The report’s strongest limitation is also its most interesting gap: Newsweek does not provide a complete match analysis with all the results or a systematic assessment of every tactical decision. The 9:1 win against Lens, the 4:1 victory over Manchester United, the club’s fourth-place position in Serie A, its first Champions League appearance and Fábregas’s written reports 24 hours before every match are firmly established.