\n<\/p>\n
T<\/span>he pre-game buzz had this as a showdown between two of world football\u2019s most intriguing young No 10s, Como\u2019s Nico Paz v Juventus\u2019s Kenan Yildiz. A 21-year-old Argentina international whose dazzling debut campaign in Serie A persuaded Tottenham to make an unsuccessful \u20ac70m bid to buy him in the summer, taking on the 20-year-old trequartista with 25 appearances already for Turkey\u2019s national team.<\/p>\n Fabio Capello could not pick between them, ranking Paz and Yildiz alongside Roma\u2019s Mat\u00edas Soul\u00e9 as the finest \u201cfantasisti\u201d \u2013 artistic playmakers \u2013 in Serie A today. The newspaper Il Giornale played on the players\u2019 shirt number and young age as they billed it as a battle \u201cda \u201810\u2019 (e lode)\u201d. In the Italian academic system, a grade of 110 e lode (with honours) is the highest one can achieve.<\/p>\n Was it all a little manufactured? There is acute awareness in Italy about how Serie A\u2019s spending power has diminished, even its richest clubs no longer able to compete financially against European rivals with 2-3 times their annual income. The need to nurture and develop young talent has never been greater. It can be tempting, in that context, to get ahead of oneself any time a new prospect starts to emerge.<\/p>\n Still, these players were starting \u2013 and starring \u2013 for their teams. Yildiz had been Juventus\u2019s most essential attacking player so far this season, with a goal and three assists in his first six league games, plus a further one of each in Europe. Capello noted how he was more two-footed than Paz. \u201cThe Argentinian [also] has more freedom of expression, Kenan has to deal with more pressure because of his club\u2019s context.\u201d<\/p>\n Francesco Totti offered a different perspective. Put on the spot with a question about young Italian talents during a promotional appearance for a betting company, the former Roma captain could not name even one he felt excited about. \u201cLet\u2019s say right now there aren\u2019t many,\u201d said Totti. \u201cThe only guy I\u2019m watching right now, who isn\u2019t Italian, is Nico Paz. He intrigues me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n How could he not? Paz opened this season with a spectacular free-kick goal against Lazio, and even that might not have been as memorable as the assist he made in the same game, spinning away from Nuno Tavares before releasing Tasos Douvikas with a through-ball that travelled half the length of the pitch without leaving the ground.<\/p>\n Few had even expected to see Paz return to Como this season. He joined from Real Madrid last summer, but the Spanish club hold a buy-back option that would have allowed them to sign him for just \u20ac9m. Pocket change, for a player named as Serie A\u2019s best Under-23 performer after bagging a combined 14 goals and assists in 2024-25. With Luka Modric departing, Madrid had space for fresh creative talent.<\/p>\n Quick Guide<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Show<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Lecce 0-0 Sassuolo, Pisa 0-0 Hellas Verona, Torino 1-0 Napoli, Roma 0-1 Inter. Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n They opted instead to prioritise the signing of the winger Franco Mastantuono, three years younger, from River Plate. With Arda G\u00fcler already primed for the No 10 role, Madrid could not guarantee Paz the playing opportunities he craved. Their buy-back option runs through to 2027, with only a gentle increase in price for each additional year they wait to exercise it, so it made sense to leave him at Como for this year.<\/p>\n Madrid are also entitled to half of any transfer fee should the player be sold to a different club instead. The fact Tottenham\u2019s bid was rejected may speak as much to Xabi Alonso\u2019s interest in eventually bringing Paz back to the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u as it does to Como\u2019s strong financial position, owned as they are by the billionaire Hartono brothers.<\/p>\n The knowledge Paz was staying put may also have helped dissuade Cesc F\u00e0bregas from seeking out new pastures himself. The Como manager had plenty of suitors, from Inter to Bayer Leverkusen, after leading his club to a top-half finish on their return to Serie A.<\/p>\n He has even better tools at his disposal this time around. Como spent more than \u20ac140m on transfers over the summer, with headline signings including the teenage wingers Jes\u00fas Rodr\u00edguez and Jayden Addai from Real Betis and AZ Alkmaar, as well as Martin Baturina and Nicolas K\u00fchn, who delivered standout European performances for Dinamo Zagreb and Celtic last season.<\/p>\n Still, though, Paz has been the star, sitting just behind a lone striker in F\u00e0bregas\u2019s 4-2-3-1. From there he drops readily to either side, showing a slight preference to drift right and cut in from there on to his stronger left foot. From that side he provided the assist for Como\u2019s opening goal against Juventus on Sunday.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Sign up to Football Daily<\/span><\/p>\n Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n <\/span>Cesc F\u00e0bregas has found a star in Nico Paz at the heart of Como\u2019s 4-2-3-1. <\/span> Photograph: Image Photo Agency\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Moments after posing beside the pitch with his latest personal accolade, Serie A\u2019s Rising Star of The Month award for September, Paz trotted back over to take a corner. He played the ball short to Lucas da Cunha, who returned it to him with a backheel. Paz then swung a cross with his left boot towards the far post, where Marc Oliver Kempf arrived to force it home.<\/p>\n This was only the fourth minute, but already Paz was on the way to ensuring that his duel with Yildiz would be less a shootout than an execution. Juventus\u2019s No 10 did his best, carrying the ball forward where he could and delivering more threat than his teammates, but Como\u2019s was a spectacle every time he touched the ball: teeing up \u00c1lvaro Morata here, running away from defenders there, dummying a touch one way only to execute a one-two with the heel of his weaker foot in-between.<\/p>\n Perhaps Totti was right. There are plenty of talented young players but even in elite football only a handful of special ones, and week by week Paz looks ever more like he belongs to the latter category. A terror in possession but also out of it, harassing opponents relentlessly with his 1.86 metres (6ft 1in) frame.<\/p>\n He sealed the points with a gorgeous 79th-minute winner. After receiving a pass from M\u00e1ximo Perrone on the right flank close to halfway, he accelerated through the next 30 yards, jagged back inside Andrea Cambiaso and crashed the ball into the far corner. The thousand-yard stare on the Juventus full-back\u2019s face said it all.<\/p>\n This was supposed to have been an opportunity for the Bianconeri to assert their title credentials. A win would have moved them level with Inter at the top, temporarily, ahead of Milan\u2019s game on Sunday evening. Instead, Juventus were left to contemplate the prospect of a next match away to a Madrid team so overloaded with talent that it could consider a player like Paz \u2013 for this season at least \u2013 surplus to requirements.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Como finished the weekend sixth in the Serie A table. Much of their success must be credited to F\u00e0bregas, whose gathered his players on the pitch at full-time to share with them \u201conly one word. Only one word. I\u2019m so fucking proud of you.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, it is hard to look past the contributions by Paz, who has either scored or assisted eight of Como\u2019s nine goals this season. \u201cHe\u2019s a champion,\u201d said F\u00e0bregas in a post-game interview. \u201cI\u2019m very calm about him and his future. With this humility, and this hunger, he can go wherever he wants to go.\u201d<\/p>\nSerie A results <\/h4>\n
Como 1907 2-0 Juventus, Cagliari 0-2 Bologna, Genoa 0-0 Parma, Atalanta 0-0 Lazio AC Milan 2-1 Fiorentina<\/p>\n