Como’s meteoric rise has become one of the great stories of European football. In just a few years, the Lombard club has gone from the most modest categories of Italian football to rub shoulders with the continental elite under the direction of Cesc Fàbregas. And few voices know this transformation better from within than Vero Boquete.
The Spanish international, who chose Como to face a new stage in her career with the aim of returning the women’s team to the top categorydoes not hesitate to point out what makes the Italian entity different.
“It is a club that is doing things in a very different way in a very different country,” Boquete assured, aware that the project has had to coexist with numerous criticisms for challenging the traditional structures of Italian football.
From anonymity to the European elite
The results, however, have silenced the skeptics. The men’s first team has made a historic climb from Serie D to the elitewhile the success has spread to all areas of the club.
“This has been an absolutely successful year for the entire club. The women’s team has risen, the second team has risen, Primavera has risen… confirms the good work of the club and a different methodology,” he explained.
Vero Boquete poses with the Como shirt, with number 87.
According to Boquete, the project is not limited only to the playing field. The objective is also to build a global identity associated with the prestige and international image of Lake Como. “It is not just football. It is a brand, image and identity. “They have known how to associate a place as special as Lake Como with a club and a way of doing things”.
The key: youth, ambition and absence of fear
For the Galician soccer player, success has a lot to do with the profile of the people who lead the entity. “The club is full of young people. The president is just over 40 years old, The directors are young and when you arrive you see a very different structure than usual,” he said.
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A philosophy summarized in a phrase that marked him since his arrival: “What we want is people who are not afraid to fail.”Boquete believes that this mentality allows us to make brave decisions and accelerate growth that in other contexts would have taken many more years.
This is Fábregas as a coach
One of the great pillars of the project is the figure of Fàbregas. Boquete recognizes that one of the reasons why he agreed to play a season in Serie B was precisely to have direct access to their work methodology. “I have been able to see practically all the games, meet their coaching staff and observe how they work,” he explained.
The Spanish defines the Catalan coach as a coach deeply influenced by the Spanish school, although enriched by his international experience. “Cesc is very Spanish in his way of understanding the game, but having played in England, Italy and Spain “It gives it a capacity for adaptation that makes a difference.”
Cesc Fàbregas celebrates Como’s qualification for the Champions League.
For Boquete, that competitive flexibility has been decisive in the team’s extraordinary season. “He wants to win above all. How is important and he works on it constantly, but he also knows how to adapt when the game demands it. “That is a huge difference compared to other coaches.”.
A city that believes again
Beyond the sporting results, the social transformation that the city is experiencing is another aspect that the soccer player highlights the most. For decades, many inhabitants of Como sympathized with the nearby giants of Milanespecially Milan and Inter. Now the situation has changed radically.
Cesc Fabregas during a match with Como.
“The city has completely turned around. Many people tell me that this was something they couldn’t even dream of,” he said. The modest lakeside stadium has become one of the symbols of the club’s rebirth. “You breathe romantic football. It is not a stadium of VIP areas and suits. They are the people of the lake, the people of the towns. It has a very special essence”.
The challenge: to consolidate among the greats
European qualification represents a dream for the entire region, but at the club no one wants to settle. “The objective now is sustainability. To stay in Serie A and consolidate among the greats in Europe”said Boquete. And for this he considers the continuity of Fàbregas at the head of the project essential.
“As long as we have Fàbregas as the boss of all this, it will be much easier”. The future has yet to be written, but Como has already shown that impossible things exist to be demolished. And, according to Vero Boquete, it all started with an idea as simple as it was revolutionary: surround yourself with young, ambitious people without fear of making mistakes.
