Inside Como's greatest night: 'Disney' model, a 14-page Man Utd dossier and Florence Pugh New York Times (Online) James Horncastle The away end at the Sinigaglia began to empty before the public service announcement informed Manchester United's travelling support to stay in their seats. Alas many of them had already got up and left. They had not seen their team lose this badly in Italy in almost 20 years. “It's a special night,” Cesc Fabregas told Sky Italia. One that will go down as the most prestigious win in Como's history. A local sat beside me couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. There were still 15 minutes remaining when the United fans made for the exits. The once great United. Reduced to a humiliating 4-1 defeat . In the row behind, Ryan Giggs looked more ashen faced than usual. He has personal experience of a loss like this not far from the Sinigaglia. It was the 2007 Champions League semi-final against the last great Milan side, a time when Kaka put in one of the performances that earned him the Ballon d'Or. Como were in Italy's fourth tier back then. No one expected them to be where they are now. “We were not starting from zero,” Fabregas said. “We were starting from minus 10.” As the visiting United directors walked up the staircase to the board room at the Sinigaglia, which has been designed in the style of one of the lake's grand hotels, they will have passed a statue of Alessandro Gabrielloni. At 32, Gabrielloni is very young to have a monument made to him. Even now, while he plays on loan at Palermo, he incarnates the modern Como. “When I joined (in 2018) we didn't have a pitch to train on,” he told The Athletic . “We trained a bit at Ponte Lambro, on artificial surfaces. Awful pitches. There was nothing. Some months we went unpaid. I came from playing down south (with Cavese in Cava de' Tirreni, near Salerno) where at least the weather was always nice. I don't think it stopped raining the first month I moved here.” Mancunians visiting Como for the first time this week know where he's coming from. Rain lashed down on the Sinigaglia making it feel more like the Stadio Deluge. The pitch glistened, resembling the billiard table Napoleon is said to have played on in the nearby Villa Pliniana. How things have changed from Gabrielloni's day. In the executive area, Como's chairman Mirwan Suwarso chatted to UEFA's deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti. It was Suwarso who oversaw the takeover of the club on behalf of the Indonesian conglomerate Djarum a year after Gabrielloni moved north. It was Suwarso who boldly decided to fire Fabregas' predecessor Moreno Longo in 2023, a decision the local papers called “absurd”. Como had just won away to Ascoli in the second division. At the time the Lakers were in the play-off places. But the football didn't align with his vision for the club. “I like to think of our business model in a way similar to Disney,” Suwarso likes to say. Under the Como umbrella, the club has a merchandising and licensing arm. There's a luxury clothing line, a media wing and tourism and hospitality business, too. “For Disney, Disneyland represents its theme park division; for us, the football club and the matchday experience are our 'theme park division',” Suwarso said. A place to be entertained and make memories. Wednesday's win over United felt like a ride no Comasco wanted to get off. Como were confident beforehand and not only because of United's worst start to a season since 1986. Much has been made of the investment by Djarum's backers, the billionaire Hartono brothers (one of whom, Michael, passed away in March). Como's net spend upon returning to Serie A for the first time in 21 years was the highest in the league for two consecutive seasons. But Sunday's 3-1 win over Fiorentina in Florence showed, once again, how well Como have bought players. Their hosts, by contrast, splurged more than €150million (￡125.9m; $168.7m) on 15 recruits in the summer. Where has it got them? They have already sacked one coach this season and are second from bottom in Serie A. Como, meanwhile, are beating Manchester United. Make no mistake, cash has been splashed by the lake but let's look at how much some of the starters against United cost? The centre-back partnership of Marc Oliver Kempf and Jacobo Ramon cost a combined €5m. Lucas da Cunha arrived from Nice for €750,000 when Como were in Serie B. He was one of the debuts Zinedine Zidane gave as the new coach of France in the last international break. It is testament to the work of Charlie Ludi, the club's sporting director, the data team, which draws on Jamestown Analytics, and Fabregas and his coaching staff , particularly Dani Guindos, who knew Nico Paz and Ramon from his time working in the Real Madrid academy. “I don't sign players for the sake of signing them. I want to make champions – that's the difference,” Fabregas said. Look at Paz. Even Lionel Messi's son Ciro has been photographed wearing his Como shirt. “We're close friends,” Fabregas said. “I've known Leo a lifetime. Our wives are friends, our kids are friends. I've sent him lots of Como shirts down the years. Not for him to post about. But the shirts are mine, not Nico's! They're Fabregas No.4s.” One suspects, however, it won't be long before Ciro asks his old man for a Paz one. Spare a thought for the 22-year-old, as it falls on Paz to replace Messi with the national team — an impossible job. This midweek, however, he once again showed why Como were willing to make his move from Madrid near permanent for €60m in the summer. The deal is split over six years with Como only paying €10m for now. Madrid have a buy-back in 2027 and would be mad not to take it even though they are overstocked in his position. In the event Madrid elect not to bring him back next summer, they will have no further claim to his rights. Against United, Paz frankly looked double the value Como have committed to pay Madrid. There was more to his game than scoring twice and setting up another. Paz forced Michael Carrick to take Andrey Santos off at half-time. The young Brazilian had already been booked for a foul on Paz and was in serious danger of being sent off. It was a tough watch for the visitors. An Indonesian fan with a Como cap outed himself as a United fan in my section. When Ramon made it 4-1, a businessman from Hong Kong told him he should keep his hat on and switch from blue to red permanently. It felt like United lost more than a game on Wednesday. Perhaps they lost Asia to Como too. The storm that gathered over the lake was nothing like the one engulfing United on the pitch. Fabregas and his staff prepare a match guide for Como's executive team before every game, breaking down what to expect. In a 14-page dossier on United, they laid out how Como were going to start attacks from their goalkeeper Jean Butez, an underrated bargain buy from Antwerp for €2m. Particular attention was paid to preventing United's transitions with Da Cunha dropping into the back line to make a back five if necessary. On the night, Como executed the game plan nearly perfectly. Out-of-work coaches like Roberto Martinez and Stefano Pioli were there to study Fabregas' work, marvelling at the control with which Maximo Perrone and Luis Milla, a €6m pick-up from Getafe, ran the game. They were seeing the future. Behind the glass in the hospitality area, a couple of Como's big summer signings, Trevoh Chalobah and Moise Kean, watched closely. It offered a reminder Como were not even at full strength against United. Jesus Rodriguez, one of their electric wingers, injured himself taking a shot at the end of training on the eve of the game. In the end, the absences did not matter. Following the game with her boyfriend, Florence Pugh didn't exactly look at Fabregas like her character in Dune looks at Timothee Chalamet, proclaiming him Lisan al Gaib. But Como fans do. In the stand knocked down by the club and rebuilt in 89 days to be compliant with UEFA rules, the ultras kept singing the same line over and over again in the rain. They implored the team to “facci sognare.” Make us dream. But Como are already living one with their eyes wide open.