Como cap stunning rise with a Champions League spot 

MILAN (AP):

Como’s remarkable rise continued yesterday as Cesc Fàbregas’ team qualified for the Champions League along with Roma on the last day of the Serie A season.

AC Milan and Juventus missed out, and Cremonese were relegated.

Como, who had never participated in any continental competition in their 119-year history, were playing in the fourth division of Italian football just seven years ago.

“When I arrived four years ago as a player we changed in a bar, today we’re in the Champions League,” Fabregas said. “Today I spoke with two physiotherapists, back then we trained without a sports centre, in a place I don’t remember where it was. We had massages in the back room of a bar, in a field .. .. And today, less than four years later, we’re going to play in the Champions League.

“It’s a huge achievement; this is a squad full of kids, the 15 players who played the most are nearly all under 23. I think that’s marvelous and a masterpiece from the whole squad.”

Fabregas’ post-match press conference was interrupted by his overjoyed players, who threw water over their coach as they sang the Champions League anthem, which was also played on a giant speaker they wheeled into the room.

Milan and Roma were in pole position as they occupied the third and fourth spots. They were level on points, two above Como and Juventus.

While Roma managed to win 2-0 at already-relegated Hellas Verona on Sunday, Milan lost 2-1 at home to Cagliari. That saw the Rossoneri leapfrogged by Como, who won 4-1 at Cremonese.

Roma finished the season in third place in the Italian standings, two points above Como, who managed fourth place and a spot in Europe’s elite club competition.

Milan — who were loudly booed at the end of their match — finished the season one point below Como, with Juventus a point further back.

Juventus let slip a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Torino in a match that kicked off an hour late because of fan trouble.

Como, who are based on the shores of the eponymous lake in northern Italy, have made rapid progress since Indonesian tobacco billionaire brothers Robert Budi Hartono and Michael Bambang Hartono purchased the club in 2019, when it was in Serie D.

The Champions League could prove to be enough to keep Fabregas at Como, with bigger clubs across Europe reportedly interested in the 39-year-old coach following his impressive early success in a senior managerial position.