Something peculiar happens at the Sinigaglia this season. Teams arrive, play decent football, and leave empty-handed. Como's home record reads like a warning: unbeaten in six, four wins, two draws. Now Milan head there on a Thursday night, chasing Inter in a rescheduled fixture that suddenly feels pivotal.
The math has changed overnight
Inter's narrow victory over Lecce on Wednesday did exactly what title races do—it squeezed the margins. Six points separate Milan from the top now. Not insurmountable, but enough to make this trip feel heavier than a standard midweek assignment. Allegri knows it. His pre-match comments carried that familiar pragmatism tinged with urgency.
"We've earned our 40 points on the pitch. It's a good base, but we need to focus on the next 19 games," he said. "Pick up the points that will keep us in the top four."
Top four. That's the target he's willing to name publicly. The Scudetto talk remains carefully boxed away, though privately the numbers are being crunched: 86-88 points to win the title, by his own estimation last week.
Fabregas isn't going anywhere
Cesc Fabregas faced the Chelsea question two weeks ago. The vacant Stamford Bridge job, his old club, a chance to return to the Premier League—it had storyline written all over it. His response was wonderfully blunt.
"Nothing to say. I am here and I am the coach of Como, and I hope for a fairly long period."
There's something refreshing about it. The Spanish World Cup winner has built something at Lake Como that feels genuine rather than mercenary. His team sits sixth, three points behind fifth-place Roma with a game in hand. European football isn't a fantasy anymore—it's a mathematical possibility that grows stronger with each home result.
Como's approach under Fabregas is unmistakable: possession-based, structured, and relentlessly positive. They press, they attack, they trust the process. It's working.
Nico Paz: enjoying the present before the inevitable
Everyone knows what happens in June. Real Madrid will activate their buyback clause—somewhere between €8-11 million—and Nico Paz will return to Spain. The 21-year-old Argentine has six goals and six assists in 17 Serie A appearances this season. He's been named man of the match more than anyone else in the league. Twice he's won the Serie A Young Player of the Month award.
But tonight, he's still Como's. And facing a Milan defense that conceded goals to Fiorentina's Pietro Comuzzo and Genoa's attack over the past week, Paz represents genuine danger. His relationship with striker Tasos Douvikas has become the heart of Fabregas's attacking system—quick combinations, intelligent movement, and an understanding that seems almost telepathic at times.
Milan's injury puzzle
Strahinja Pavlovic needed stitches to his head after Florence. Niclas Fullkrug fractured a toe. Santiago Gimenez remains the long-term absence that has forced Allegri to reinvent his attack.
The solution? Rafael Leao and Christopher Nkunku together upfront. It's not conventional, but nothing about this Milan season has been. Leao's scoring touch returned at Cagliari; Nkunku rescued a point with a last-minute equalizer at Fiorentina. When Allegri sent Leao onto the pitch against Fiorentina, witnesses report he gave the Portuguese winger a nudge and smiled: "Rafa, don't piss me off..."
It captures something about how Allegri manages—part motivation, part provocation, always demanding that extra gear from his talented but inconsistent attackers.
Modric's quiet influence
Luka Modric turns 40 in September. He took a significant pay cut to join Milan after 13 years and 28 trophies at Real Madrid. The Croatian's first question to sporting director Igli Tare during negotiations was telling: "Will we be a team built to win the championship?"
He's not here for a victory lap. With the 2026 World Cup in the United States on the horizon, Modric needs competitive minutes, and Milan need his experience, his tempo control, his ability to find passes that younger players don't see. Against Como's energetic midfield, his composure could prove decisive.
The subplot nobody's discussing
Alvaro Morata, once Milan's striker, now wears Como blue. He's injured for this fixture—the kind of minor detail that would have generated headlines two years ago but barely registers now. Football moves fast. Loyalties shift. Morata found his way to Lake Como after spells across Europe; his former employers arrive as title contenders while he watches from the treatment room.
There's a certain poetry to it, though neither club will dwell on sentimentality tonight.
What to expect
Como will attack. That's not bravery—it's identity. Fabregas doesn't park buses, doesn't set up to contain and counter. His team will try to pin Milan back, to dominate the ball, to make the Sinigaglia's compact dimensions work in their favor.
Milan, meanwhile, arrive having drawn their last two matches. The pattern has been similar: slow starts, growing into games, individual brilliance rescuing points. Allegri admitted as much: "We used to start strongly, whereas now we tend to grow into matches. We need to approach games better."
For the neutrals, it's an enticing prospect. Two coaches who believe in playing football, two teams with genuine ambition, and a table that remains compressed enough to make every point feel consequential.
The safe prediction would be a draw. The honest assessment is that this game could go anywhere—and that's exactly why it matters.
Kick-off: Thursday, January 15, 2026, 20:45 CET at Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia.
