Como-Lecco: Derby del Lario

Fifty years is a long time in any endeavour, but it is an eternity by football’s standards. Half a century has passed since Como and Lecco met in Serie B, and despite the best efforts of football’s bureaucracy, the Derby del Lario is back.

Despite Lecco’s Serie C playoff triumph in June, it might be Como that are most eagerly anticipating this first meeting. In 2020-21, both sides met in Serie C after the previous season ended abruptly thanks to the COVID pandemic, meaning the only derby that took place was a 1-1 draw in October 2019.

This was the first time the two sides of Lake Como, the ‘legs’ of the lake as they appear on the map, had met in a full season for almost ten years. In the first clash at Como’s Giuseppe Sinigaglia stadium, Lecco won 3-0, much to the embarrassment of their more fancied rivals.

Como, owned by Indonesian tobacco giant Djarum, were on their way back up the Italian pyramid with the considerable wealth of the Hartono brothers behind them. Lecco, meanwhile, had been rescued out of bankruptcy by entrepreneur Paolo Di Nunno, who didn’t have £20bn+ of cigs money behind him.

When the fixtures were released, the local media only wanted to know one thing.

Como were top of Serie C/A ahead of the return game in Lecco, but their rivals went one better and beat them 4-0, proving that success really loses its shine if you must listen to your neighbour gloating.

Still, Como went up as champions and Lecco lost in the playoffs; though it hasn’t sated the Voltiani’s hunger for revenge. When the Serie B calendar was unveiled in Villa Olmo, home to the shrine of chemist/physicist/invention maestro Alessandro Volta, the local media in Como only wanted to talk about one thing when the fixtures were released. The derby. 

Yes, there are another 36 fixtures, but when do we get to have a go at that lot? It’s sure to be a cracking game at Giuseppe Sinigaglia, with the hosts undoubtedly keen to make sure there are no repeats of 2020-21.

Derbies tend to stem from some archaic grievance, whether mutual or one sided. It can be tribal or even just a case of one town getting a better shopping centre than the other. But the Derby del Lario is different. It’s Volta versus Manzoni. Physicist versus playwright, but most of all, it’s Como-Lecco.

The battle for Lake Como is as sophisticated as they come, and that’s before you even consider the idyllic backdrop within which Alessandro Manzoni set his famous novel ‘I promessi sposi’ (The Betrothed). Well, Manzoni’s location was Lecco and almost two centuries later, the Manzoniani returned to Serie B for the first time in fifty years.

For Lecco, the motivation is clear. Half a century since they played in B and a little longer since they were in the top flight (1967), but there is another edge to the Lario derby, one that has only emerged since they last met in Serie B.

For the people of Lecco, it’s a case of civic pride that they now have a sense of autonomy from Como.

Lecco was part of the province of Como, despite attempts to separate it, until 1992 when the Italian government created the province of Lecco. For the people of Lecco, it’s a case of civic pride that they now have a sense of autonomy from Como. For their old provincial roommates, it makes little actual difference to their daily lives, but it remains an issue they can mock their neighbours about. Lecco is Como, some say, but I doubt they really mean it.

Despite having a fraction of their rival’s budget, Lecco should not be underestimated. They began this Serie B season in a courtroom but, thankfully, sense eventually prevailed, and they were allowed to take their well-earned place in the league. 

The debilitating effect this drama had on their pre-season is presumed, and this derby is one of three games that were postponed at the start of the season while footballing decisions were being made in legal institutions. 

Since 29 August, Lecco have had to bring their several new signings up to speed at double pace, navigate a managerial change in October and move back to their slightly renovated stadium; all of this done while adjusting to a level of competition they haven’t faced since 1973.

Two clubs that feel like they’re on the ascendancy in a very competitive Serie B field.

For them to be 17th and competitive in the fight for survival is a real achievement. In beating Parma and Palermo, two promotion contenders, they have demonstrated that it would be foolish to write them off like most have fellow promoted side Feralpisalo.

Como look like they have got their act together after underachieving for a couple of seasons. The decision to sack Moreno Longo after a strong start to the campaign is bold; replacing him with Cesc Fabregas even more so, but they are a team on the up and should be in the playoff mix.

Form, budget, and common sense says Como over Lecco, but football is rarely sensible nor linear like that.

This is a classic derby. A game of “Our national treasure is better than yours!” Two clubs that feel like they’re on the ascendancy in a very competitive Serie B field, duking it out in a grassy field for the right to say they ‘own’ Lake Como. Arts or Sciences, who wins?