Lens humiliated 1-9 by Como in Champions League, French-Italian press in shock

RC Lens conceded Wednesday evening the largest defeat ever suffered by a French club in the Champions League, collapsing 1-9 at home to Como 1907 of Cesc Fàbregas. An unprecedented result in the history of the competition for French football, which immediately triggered an avalanche of reactions on both sides of the Alps.

In France, the press spared no words. La Voix du Nord chose the word “Humiliated” on its front page, fearing that this debacle would leave lasting marks on the morale of an already fragile squad. L’Équipe opted for an equally blunt “Ridiculous,” describing Lens players “at the bottom of the lake,” unable to react after the opening goal. Le Parisien pointed to a “disastrous performance” and an incomprehensible collective surrender, while the specialist site Lensois.com evoked “gigantic” technical and mental shortcomings in what it called a “never-ending nightmare.”

On the other side of the Alps, the tone is radically different. La Gazzetta dello Sport opened its cover with a declaration of love — “Como, you are so beautiful” — before underlining the historical scale of the performance: “On November 4, 2026, Fàbregas’s Como made history in Italian football by signing the largest victory ever recorded in the Champions League.” The editorialist stressed the contrast: “A historic evening for Italian football, the darkest chapter in Lens’s history.”

Corriere dello Sport celebrated an “incredible evening for an incredible team,” Sky Sport and La Provincia hailed in unison the “ninth symphony of Cesc,” paying tribute to the performance orchestrated by the former Spanish midfielder. It was Tuttosport, however, that won the prize for editorial boldness, headlining in large letters with its pun: “Comosutra.”

For Lens, beyond the sporting humiliation, the question that now arises is that of the resilience of a squad clearly in full doubt, forced to digest a result that will remain etched in the annals of European football.