Fabregas and Como prepare for historic Man Utd tie

Serie A success story Como have gone from Serie A to the Champions League – now they are ready for a historic night against Manchester United. The picturesque setting of Como's Giuseppe Sinigaglia Stadium, by the banks of Lake Como "It's Manchester United. We are only just getting our heads around the fact we are playing Inter, Milan and Juventus. "This is without doubt the biggest night in the club's history." The words of a Como staff member say it all. United may not be the force they once were and travel to Italy on the brink of a full-blown crisis after six games without a win, their worst run since 2018-19.

But, in terms of global stature, they are immense. To put this into context, when United savoured the last of their three Champions League triumphs in 2008, Como were a Serie D club, playing in one of nine semi-professional regional leagues, where attendances tend to be measured in their hundreds. According to chief executive Mirwan Surwaso, it was their status as an amateur club – they returned to Serie D in 2017 after being unable to convince the authorities of their financial wellbeing – which first attracted the London-based media company Sent Entertainment, owned by Indonesian billionaires Robert Budi Hartono and Michael Bambang Hartono. When they concluded a