Como beat Manchester United 4-1 in the Champions League. Wednesday. At the Sinigaglia. I read it at the chip shop, on my neighbour’s mobile, because my weekly had not yet had time to be proud.
Nico Paz is 22. He opened the scoring in under two minutes. He set up Tasos Douvikas early in the second half. Then he took the ball off Carlos Baleba, ran 25 metres, and finished. Man of the match. Nothing to add. A good game is watched, not commented on.
Roberto Martinez commented on it. He is a technical observer for UEFA. He wrote on the official site: “It was like watching Maradona, watching that type of player that gets the team on his shoulders.”
In 1980, there was no technical observer. There was a man at the café who said the kid was good. The next day, the paper said the same thing, only shorter. I’m not criticising. I’m comparing.
Nobody was compared to Maradona. He was the comparison. Now he gets lent out. On the internet, to a boy from Como.
Marcel, the ball won off Baleba, that’s high pressing. I run that on Tuesday. When we’ve got eleven, that is.
Martinez also wrote: “I love Nico’s clinical touch.” Clinical. We used to talk about feet. He led Portugal to victory in the Nations League in 2025. A competition that did not exist back when we still knew what a friendly was.
Friendlies, Nico Paz has played a few. He scored in three consecutive matches with Argentina. And on Saturday, Como hosted Sassuolo. He was not in the starting eleven. Compared to Maradona, and not a starter. Note that I’m not against progress. I’m against this progress.
The boy spoke of “one of the most special nights in my life”. That one, I leave to him.
It’s true, we checked: Football Italia.
