Como vs RB Leipzig: The forgotten step out into a European night

After thirty-five years of writing about football, I have learned that a match truly begins only when I understand the people running on the pitch. So, before Como face RB Leipzig, I do not open pressing statistics to predict the score. I look at four names brought to Lake Como over the past two years: Nico Paz, Trevoh Chalobah, Martin Baturina and Jacobo Ramon. They share one thing: each has touched top-level European football, but none has truly lived as the central figure. Real Madrid gave Paz three Champions League appearances. Chelsea gave Chalobah seventeen. Baturina breathed the atmosphere of European competition in the colours of Dinamo Zagreb. Ramon sat in the Real Madrid squad on bright European nights, even if only as a supporting character. Some call them surplus. I call them people who are on the way to becoming themselves. Nico Paz appeared in my notes long before he joined Como. I followed him in the Real Madrid youth teams and was always drawn to what Argentines call his own rhythm. He is not the fastest, nor the strongest, but he knows how to slow a match down at the right moment so his team-mates can arrive. In his first Serie A season after Como were promoted, Paz scored six goals and provided nine assists. In the next season, he turned that into twelve goals and seven assists. Those numbers do not shock like hundred-million-euro transfers, but they say something important: he is finally living in a system built around him. That never happened at Real Madrid, where he made only three Champions League appearances. Those three appearances were enough to teach him the feeling of walking down the tunnel to the UEFA anthem, but not enough for him to be himself. Now, against RB Leipzig, Paz is no longer a young player sent on in the final minutes. He is the conductor, the one who must receive the ball even when the opposition are pressing. That pressure is different. But a player who once sat on the bench at the Bernabeu understands that pressure is not the enemy; the real enemy is invisibility. Trevoh Chalobah brings a different story. He is not a flamboyant defender, not a scorer of decisive goals, but his arrival at Como feels like placing a steel shield next to a wall that is being rebuilt. Before joining Como, Chalobah made one hundred and fifty-one appearances for Chelsea since his debut in 2026. He also played seventeen times in the Champions League. Although he was not an indispensable pillar at Stamford Bridge, he learned to survive in an environment that demands immediate results. At Como, the coach can use Chalobah as a central defender or as a right back. That flexibility will become invaluable against RB Leipzig, a team that loves to attack the space behind full backs. I have watched many Champions League matches and noticed that defenders who have played in this competition usually read situations much better than those used only to the tempo of Serie A. Chalobah does not need to run the most. He needs to run at the right moment, stand in the right position, and prevent the Como defence from being dragged into the opponent's pressing whirlwind. Martin Baturina is another piece, one with a typical Balkan character. This Croatian player does not have an imposing physique, but he can handle the ball in tight spaces with incredible composure. Last season, Baturina scored six goals and provided three assists in Serie A. This season, after only three matches, he already has two goals and one assist. What I notice is not dry numbers, but the way he escapes the traps of opposing midfielders with very short turns. Baturina can play as an attacking midfielder or on the right or left wing. That versatility lets coach Cesc Fabregas change the team's structure without making a substitution. When RB Leipzig press, Baturina will be one of Como's most important outlets. He has played in the Champions League with Dinamo Zagreb, where every match against a big club was a fight for survival. That experience cannot be bought with money. Jacobo Ramon is the youngest of the four names I want to mention. The twenty-one-year-old central defender is almost two metres tall and came through the Real Madrid academy. Last season, Ramon started thirty-two Serie A matches, a remarkable number for a player of his age. He is not the type of defender who only wins aerial duels. He can pass through the lines and read the opponent's intentions before the ball reaches the striker. His biggest weakness is his lack of experience in top matches, where every mistake is punished. But he was part of Real Madrid on Champions League nights, even from the bench. The feeling of sitting and watching older team-mates handle pressure is also a valuable lesson. Now Ramon is no longer a boy watching from a distance. He will be the one facing RB Leipzig's mobile forwards directly. That test will tell us whether he has what it takes to become a top defender. Looking at the way Como recruit, I see a clear strategy. They do not compete with rich clubs in flashy transfer markets. Instead, they look for players who have been trained in harsh professional environments but have not yet had the chance to step into the light. It may be a young Real Madrid player who cannot find a place, a Chelsea defender pushed out by squad restructuring, or a Croatian midfielder who wants to leave Eastern Europe for a top league. For a small club, it is impossible to sign stars in their prime. But signing people who have lived in the winning culture of big clubs is a smart gamble. They carry the DNA of dressing rooms with tradition, along with the desire to prove that they are not surplus. Every transfer is a turning point of fate, not of spreadsheets. Como are betting on those turning points. Under coach Cesc Fabregas, Como have not chosen defensive football. Fabregas was a possession-based midfielder, and that is reflected in how Como build their play. They are willing to risk passing out from the back, even near their own penalty area. This can make Como an annoying opponent for RB Leipzig, a team that wants the opposition to play long balls so it can easily recover the ball. But it can also become a double-edged sword if Como lose the ball in dangerous areas. That is where the roles of Chalobah and Ramon become crucial. They must ensure the space behind the midfield is not left open. RB Leipzig are not a merciful team. They press ferociously, transition quickly and tend to attack the spaces created by a lack of coordination. If Como simply kick the ball long, they will soon be suffocated. But if they are calm enough to circulate the ball through the three lines, they can make Leipzig chase the ball rather than press. Nico Paz and Martin Baturina will be the two most important links in escaping the press. Both can receive the ball in tight spaces, turn and make the next pass before the opponent arrives. The remaining issue is the patience of the whole team. In a Champions League match, thirty seconds of lost concentration are enough to concede. The outside world often misunderstands these players as rejects from big clubs. They see Chalobah leave Chelsea, Paz leave Real Madrid, Ramon fail to establish himself in the first team, and quickly label them failures. But the opposite is true: they are people who chose to leave before their role became meaningless. At a club like Como, they can touch the ball more, make more decisions and take more responsibility. That does not mean they are inferior. It means they are brave enough to give up the safety of a glamorous bench to seek a leading role in a lesser-known story. When they walk out against RB Leipzig, they carry no sense of being cast aside. They carry the lessons from Europe's biggest dressing rooms, but for once they are allowed to do what they have never had the chance to do: become protagonists. I have written that the heartbeat is never in the ball, but in people. The match between Como and RB Leipzig will be analysed with tactical diagrams, expected-goals numbers, sprint counts and distance covered. But I want to look at other things. I want to see how Nico Paz stands tall when Leipzig push high, how Baturina asks for the ball while the stands close in, how Ramon calls team-mates to adjust their positions, how Chalobah brings calm to the defence with a simple clap. Those moments will tell us whether a team truly belongs in the Champions League. Tactics will become old, but the stories of people never expire. I came to Lyon looking for a media wave, and I stayed to learn how to listen. Perhaps that is why I do not want to write a dry analytical article listing Como's strengths and weaknesses against RB Leipzig. For me, this match is not just the first time this small club have appeared in Europe. It is a test for a football model that dares to bet on underestimated people. If Como do something at Leipzig, people will talk about tactics. If Como fail, they will soon be forgotten. But whatever the result, the stories of these four players will continue. The heartbeat is never in the ball, but in people. The ball is only the meeting point of ambitions, and the coming European night will show us who has enough desire to touch the impossible.