Como’s 9–1 away victory matched the Champions League era’s largest winning margin, with a Douvikas treble and a European debut goal for Matteo Papaccioli.
Como produced one of the most remarkable scorelines of the Champions League era on 4 November, winning 9–1 away to Lens at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis. Anastasios Douvikas scored a hat-trick as Cesc Fàbregas’ side turned a commanding first half into an extraordinary second-half rout.
The eight-goal margin matched the competition-era record represented by Liverpool’s 8–0 victory over Beşiktaş and Real Madrid’s 8–0 win against Malmö, according to Reuters. The qualification matters: the result belongs within the Champions League-era comparison, rather than an unqualified claim covering every match in the earlier European Cup.
Douvikas establishes the advantage
Como’s official report records Douvikas opening the scoring in the seventh minute and adding a second in the 32nd. Nico Paz made it 3–0 before the interval. The forward’s third goal after the break completed a treble on a night when seven Como players reached the scoresheet.
Lucas Da Cunha, Marc-Oliver Kempf, Mattia Liberali, Martin Baturina and Matteo Papaccioli also scored. Ruben Aguilar supplied Lens’ reply. Papaccioli, an 18-year-old academy graduate, marked his European debut with the final goal in added time, giving the closing minutes a significance beyond the size of the score.
That spread of scorers is one reason the result stands out. A hat-trick usually defines a match, but here it formed part of a much wider attacking contribution. Como continued adding goals after the contest had effectively been decided, allowing both established starters and substitutes to leave a mark.
The performance behind the score
Football Italia’s match account describes Como’s second goal as a move beginning with goalkeeper Jean Butez and involving a sequence of passes before Douvikas finished. It also identifies another move starting from defence before Paz scored the third. Those passages provide more substance than a scoreline alone to the assessment of Como’s performance.
The same account describes Da Cunha combining with Paz immediately after the restart and Douvikas later running onto Paz’s pass to complete his hat-trick. The common feature is the connection between possession and forward movement. The goals emerged from several routes, rather than a single repeated finishing opportunity.
Paz’s first-half goal also carried a personal tribute. He held up a message for Jesús de Miguel, the Tenerife player who died following an on-field accident. Both the club and the match coverage record that gesture, adding a moment of remembrance within a night otherwise dominated by the attacking display.
A substantial boost within the league phase
The result gives Como three wins from their first four league-phase games. UEFA’s team-by-team schedule records earlier 4–1 home victories against Leipzig and Manchester United, together with a 3–2 defeat away to Feyenoord. Adding the Lens win brings their points total from those four fixtures to nine.
The scale of the latest victory also makes a large contribution to their goal difference: the match alone adds eight. That can become relevant when teams finish level on points, although a strong margin does not replace the need to collect results in the remaining fixtures. One spectacular evening cannot settle the final league-phase order.
For Lens, the immediate issue is how to respond to the defensive collapse. The final score shows the damage clearly, but an effective response requires examining the individual passages that allowed Como to keep extending the lead. The match account gives the coaching staff several different phases to address, from the initial goals to the period after half-time.
The next fixtures restore the wider perspective
UEFA’s fixture list schedules Como to host AEK Athens on 24 November. Later league-phase opponents include Real Betis, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona. That programme will test whether the qualities shown in Lens remain effective against a varied set of opponents.
The immediate domestic schedule also moves quickly: Como’s own report turns attention to a visit to Inter. The challenge after an exceptional score is to preserve the habits that made it possible without allowing the occasion to distort preparation for a different match.
Como leave France with more than a striking headline. They have three additional points, a strengthened goal difference, a Douvikas hat-trick and a debut scorer to celebrate. The 9–1 result has earned its place in the competition’s record comparisons; its longer-term sporting value will depend on what follows.
Sources
Como 1907: Official match report
Reuters: Record margin and match report
Football Italia: Match account
