Como 1907 vs RB Leipzig: predicted lineups and our call on their first European night
On Thursday 10 September Como play the first European match in their history, 119 years after the club was founded. Predicted lineups, the ground, and our read on it.
Como 1907 vs RB Leipzig is played on Thursday 10 September at 21:00 CET, on matchday one of the Champions League.
For Como 1907 this is not an ordinary night: it is the first European match in the club's history, 119 years after it was founded. A side that went bankrupt a decade ago and restarted in the fourth tier walks into the league phase of the biggest competition there is.
Where it is played
Plenty of people are asking, and the answer is the simplest one: the game is in Como, at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia. Not Milan, not a borrowed ground elsewhere.
Where to watch
In Italy the match is on Sky Sport, with streaming on Sky Go and NOW. Coverage differs by country, so check your local listing elsewhere.
How Como arrive
In good shape, which is what makes the evening more than a romantic story. In Serie A they are third with seven points from three games, seven scored and three conceded, and last Friday they won 4-1 away at Genoa with four goals inside little more than twenty minutes.
Only Jayden Addai is missing from the predicted eleven.
How Leipzig arrive
With three absences that bite mostly at the back: Castello Lukeba, Rocco Reitz and Brajan Gruda are out. Up front they still have Antonio Nusa and Christopher Nkunku, the sort of forward who can settle a game inside ten minutes.
The predicted lineups
Como (4-2-3-1)
Jean Butez in goal; Yan Couto, Trevoh Chalobah, Jacobo Ramón and Álex Valle at the back; Lucas Da Cunha and Luis Milla in the middle; Assane Diao, Nico Paz and Martin Baturina behind Anastasios Douvikas.
RB Leipzig (4-3-3)
Maarten Vandevoordt in goal; Ridle Baku, Willi Orbán, Maxime Estève and David Raum behind; Neil El Aynaoui, Nicolas Seiwald and Ezechiel Banzuzi in midfield; Johan Bakayoko, Christopher Nkunku and Antonio Nusa ahead.
Predicted lineups can change until an hour before kick-off, when the official teamsheets are released.
Our prediction
We say more than 1.5 goals. Como did not get here by defending: outside the top two they have scored more than anyone in the early league season, and they are not going to change their face in front of their own crowd on the biggest night the club has had.
On the result we do not commit. Leipzig remain by far the more experienced European side of the two, and a night like this, for a club playing it for the first time, can turn on nerves as much as on football.
Then we count it
When the Champions League round closes we publish the tally with nothing removed. The record of settled calls is in the results history.
Our analysis stays updated until kick-off on the Champions League page, and the individual calls are in the Player Predictions section.
