NORTHERN ITALY — Como qualified for the Champions League for the first time in their history by defeating 10-man Cremonese 4-1 on the final day of the Serie A season. The result confirmed Cremonese's relegation to Serie B.

Jesus Rodriguez and Tasos Douvikas scored two of Como's goals before Federico Bonazzoli pulled one back for Cremonese from the penalty spot after Jamie Vardy was fouled in the area, making the score 2-1. With 20 minutes remaining, a penalty awarded to Como led to three Cremonese players — Alberto Grassi, Milan Djuric and David Okereke — being shown straight red cards for protesting. Lucas da Cunha added a fourth goal for Como late in the match.

Going into the final round, Como needed to win and have either AC Milan or Roma drop points to secure Champions League qualification. Four teams were competing for the final two Champions League berths, with Milan and Roma level on points and two points ahead of Como and Juventus. Had Juventus won and finished level on points with Como, Como would have finished above them due to a better head-to-head record. Milan lost 2-1 to Cagliari on the final day, while Roma defeated Hellas Verona 2-0 to finish third in Serie A.

"It's up there with all my achievements for how it was done and with whom we did it, because we did it with very young players, almost all of them are under 23 years old. That's amazing," said Cesc Fàbregas, the 39-year-old former Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona midfielder.

Como, based on the shores of the eponymous lake in northern Italy, had never participated in any European competition in their 119-year history before this season. The club was playing in the fourth division of Italian soccer just seven years ago. Indonesian tobacco billionaire brothers Robert Budi Hartono and Michael Bambang Hartono purchased Como in 2019, when the club was in Serie D.