Como's Fairytale Rise Exposes the Scale of Manchester United's Collapse

Como were a semi-professional Serie D side in 2017. On Wednesday night, they host Manchester United in the Champions League, a fixture that doubles as a referendum on two wildly diverging football stories. One club has gone from regional amateur obscurity to Serie A's top four in five years. The other, a three-time European champion, arrives in Italy without a win in six games, their worst run since 2018-19 according to BBC Sport.

When United last lifted the Champions League trophy in 2008, Como were grinding through one of nine semi-professional regional leagues where crowds were measured in the hundreds, not thousands BBC Sport reports. That juxtaposition alone tells you everything about how far United have fallen, and how far Como have climbed.

From Serie D to the San Siro's Rivals: Como's Five-Year Miracle

A club playing in front of hundreds

Como's return to Serie D in 2017 came after the club failed to convince Italian football authorities of its financial stability BBC Sport's reporting notes. It is almost impossible to reconcile that version of the club with the one preparing to host United this week, complete with lakeside hospitality tours and a plush new club shop that simply had no reason to exist in the fourth tier.

Fourth place and Champions League qualification

Under Cesc Fabregas, who arrived as a player before moving into coaching, Como's rise has been dramatic:

• Serie D in 2017, playing in front of crowds in the hundreds
• Promoted through the divisions to reach Serie B, then Serie A
• Finished fourth in Serie A in 2025-26, helped by AC Milan's shock defeat at Cagliari
• Five seasons from Fabregas's arrival as a player to Champions League football

Como's city of just over 83,000 people means roughly 90% of the entire population could fit inside the San Siro, yet this is now a club with Champions League nights on its calendar as BBC Sport details.

Manchester United's Crisis Arrives on Lake Como

Worst run since 2018-19

United travel to the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia on the back of six matches without a win, a slump BBC Sport describes as their worst since 2018-19 in its coverage from Como. For a club with United's history and resources, that stat alone should be alarming enough without factoring in the opponent.

A fixture that should worry, not comfort, United

There will be a temptation among United's travelling support to treat this as a routine away day against unfamiliar opposition. That would be a mistake. Como are no longer the soft touch their recent history suggests, and a United side short on form and confidence are precisely the kind of opponent an ambitious, well-drilled home team can punish.

Three quarters of the 12,300-capacity stadium is uncovered, and heavy rain is forecast for kick-off per BBC Sport, conditions that could add further unpredictability to a fixture United cannot afford to treat lightly.

The Hartono Brothers' Accidental Empire

A television project that became a football club

Como's ownership story is arguably stranger than their results. The club is owned by London-based media company Sent Entertainment, controlled by Indonesian billionaires Robert Budi Hartono and Michael Bambang Hartono. According to chief executive Mirwan Surwaso, it was Como's amateur status that first attracted the Hartono brothers, who completed their deal in 2019 with plans for a television project screening matches involving young Indonesian players back home, not a football investment BBC Sport reports.

"Somehow the team got promoted, we had to go professional, and the plan had to be scrapped," Surwaso told Piers Morgan's Football Uncensored Podcast as cited by BBC Sport.

Henry, Varane and Messi's son

The project's credibility has been bolstered by high-profile names attaching themselves to the club. Former France internationals Thierry Henry and Raphael Varane are both investors, and this week Lionel Messi's son Ciro was photographed wearing a replica Como kit, tangible evidence, as BBC Sport put it, of a meteoric rise reported here.

Surwaso insists the club is not worried about UEFA's financial scrutiny despite the speed of their rise from Serie B to the Champions League. "The scrutiny is on us but we always have our books in order, so we are not too worried," he told Morgan's podcast via BBC Sport.

Fabregas's Dream Come True and What It Means for United

"Another world" for the man who built it

Fabregas, who played for Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea before taking charge at Como, has been open about the scale of the transformation. "Compared to when I finished my career here, it is completely different," he said. "It is not even night and day. It is another world" as quoted by BBC Sport.

ESPN FC reported Fabregas describing the tie in even more emotional terms, calling it a "dream come true" to host United in the Champions League according to ESPN's coverage. BBC Sport's account does not contradict this; it simply places greater emphasis on the club's infrastructure, ownership and finances, while ESPN leads with Fabregas's personal emotion. Both outlets agree on the essential facts, which is itself notable given the scale of the story being told.

Humility as a strategy

Fabregas has been careful to balance celebration with caution, a tension that will define how Como approach United. "When I retired as a player, I coached to get experience," he said. "We are a family here. Even when we lose, fans come and celebrate. We need to be humble and remember who we were" per BBC Sport. He added a pointed line about not dwelling on the past: "We were at minus 10 when we started, but we "

What happens next

For Como, Wednesday is validation of a project that started as a media experiment and accidentally became one of European football's most compelling case studies in smart, patient growth. Even a credible performance against United, regardless of the result, would cement their status as more than a novelty act.

For United, the stakes are different and more uncomfortable. A side already under scrutiny after six winless games cannot afford to lose to a club that was playing in front of hundreds of fans less than a decade ago. Anything less than victory will intensify questions over the manager and the squad's confidence heading into a season already teetering toward crisis.

Bettors watching United's odds against unfancied opposition this season have reason to pay close attention here. Como's rise is no longer a sentimental subplot, it is a live threat, and the form lines going into this match suggest the gap between these two clubs is far smaller than their respective histories would ever have predicted.