{"id":47025,"date":"2026-04-09T15:04:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=47025"},"modified":"2026-04-09T15:04:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:04:40","slug":"comos-ucl-bid-tested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=47025","title":{"rendered":"Como&#8217;s UCL bid tested"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Como&#8217;s bid to reach the Champions League faces a key test on Sunday when Serie A leaders Inter Milan arrive lakeside trying to take another step towards a 21st league title.<\/p>\n<p>A traditionally tiny club, and one more experienced with lower league football and bankruptcies than playing the continent&#8217;s elite, Como sit fourth and are on course to qualify for Europe for the first time.<br \/>\nCoach Cesc Fabregas has done such an impressive job that Como could make their continental debut in the Champions League after a phenomenal second Serie A season under the former Spain midfielder.<br \/>\nEven a Conference League spot would be a triumph for the Indonesian billionaire Hartono brothers who through tabacco giant Djarum acquired Como, then in the third tier, back in 2019.<br \/>\nIt would also be a tribute to Michael Hartono, the elder of the two siblings, who died last month at the age of 86. Without him, Fabregas recently said, none of Como&#8217;s success would have been possible.<\/p>\n<p>The Inter visit is a crucial moment in Como&#8217;s campaign. They are one point ahead of fifth-placed Juventus, who have a key clash of their own at resurgent Atalanta.<br \/>\nFive points separate Como from Atalanta in seventh but that gap could well be cut if a full -trength Inter team repeat what they did to Roma in last weekend.<br \/>\nInter burst back into life in that 5-2 win thanks in large part to the return from injury of their captain, and the league&#8217;s top scorer, Lautaro Martinez.<br \/>\nThe restored combination of the Argentina striker and Denzel Dumfries, who was out from November to February, makes Inter a potent enough team going forward to mitigate their evident defensive frailties.<br \/>\nDefending champions Napoli, Inter&#8217;s closest challengers at seven points off the pace, are at Parma seeking a seventh straight win after keeping their title defence alive by beating AC Milan on Monday.<br \/>\nNapoli boss Antonio Conte should have Rasmus Hojlund back after the Denmark striker missed the Milan win with a stomach bug.<br \/>\nWith their principle rivals engaged in big fixtures, Roma have a chance to shake off their hammering at Inter and pull themselves closer to Como.<br \/>\nGian Piero Gasperini&#8217;s team are sixth, four points behind Como, going into their home fixture with Pisa, who are bottom of the division and set to go straight back down to Serie B.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Como&#8217;s bid to reach the Champions League faces a key test on Sunday when Serie A leaders Inter Milan arrive lakeside trying to take another step towards a 21st league title. A traditionally tiny club, and one more experienced with lower league football and bankruptcies than playing the continent&#8217;s elite, Como sit fourth and are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}