Como's Nico Paz celebrates scoring their third goal and holds up a t-shirt in memory of CD Tenerife's Jesus de Miguel, who died after suffering a cardiac arrest following a collision during a football match in Spain.
Como's Nico Paz celebrates scoring their third goal and holds up a t-shirt in memory of CD Tenerife's Jesus de Miguel, who died after suffering a cardiac arrest following a collision during a football match in Spain.Reuters
Football

Como equal biggest Champions League winning margin with nine-goal rout of Lens

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Como ripped Lens apart 9-1 in northern France on Wednesday to match the biggest winning margin in the modern Champions League. Anastasios Douvikas scored a hat-trick as Cesc Fabregas’s Serie A side moved to three wins from four league-phase games.

Only two clubs had previously won by a margin of eight goals since the modern Champions League began in 1992: Liverpool, who beat Besiktas 8-0 in the 2007 group stage, and Real Madrid, who beat Malmo by the same score in 2015.

Como also became only the second team to score nine in a Champions League game, after Bayern Munich’s 9-2 win over Dinamo Zagreb in 2024. Opta data show no club had scored nine away from home since Feyenoord against Olympiacos in the 1971 European Cup.

Como's Anastasios Douvikas celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates.
Como's Anastasios Douvikas celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates.Reuters

Douvikas broke the deadlock from close range in the seventh minute and added a second after a slick team move shortly past the half-hour mark. Nico Paz rifled in a third before the interval to make it 3-0 at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

Paz then set up Lucas Da Cunha for the fourth, Marc-Oliver Kempf headed in the fifth and Douvikas completed his hat-trick. Mattia Liberali, newly on from the bench, raced clear to score the seventh before Ruben Aguilar volleyed a consolation for Lens.

Martin Baturina struck an eighth in the 69th minute, and Lens could count themselves fortunate that only one more goal followed. Matteo Papaccioli supplied it late on, completing a remarkable night for the visitors with the ninth goal of the evening.

Fabregas stayed level-headed. “There’s nothing but positives for us to take this evening. Everything went right for us,” he said of a result that leaves Como fourth in the standings on nine points, one behind Arsenal and three behind Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid.

Como, who qualified for the competition for the first time after finishing fourth in Serie A last season, had already beaten RB Leipzig and Manchester United 4-1 at home this term. Lens, by contrast, have now lost three Champions League games in a row.

The scoreline is also a record Champions League loss for a French club, and Lens coach Yannick Cahuzac was blunt about the mood. “It is hard to explain in the heat of the moment but the overriding feeling is one of humiliation,” he said.

European Club Football
UEFA Champions League (UCL)
FC COMO
Cesc Fabregas
Nico Paz
Lens
Anastasios Douvikas