Como ended up blowing a 2-0 lead and were unable to complete a furious second half comeback, falling short to Serie A favorites Inter Milan in a game that more than lived up to the hype, but through his latest great performance from the northern Italian side, Nico Paz has proven that he is more than ready to be a key player for Real Madrid next season.
Cesc Fabregas will do whatever he can to hold onto his biggest gem and a man who is probably the best overall player in Serie A right now, but Real Madrid truly have all the cards here. And for months, every report out of Spain has been that Florentino Perez and the Merengue club have already long past decided on bringing their prized former academy product back to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Paz will never be a case of a man whom they missed out on, because Real Madrid have always known he would be great. They sold him to Como so that he could start every game and be central to an exciting project led by Fabregas, and the results, well, they speak for themselves.
Nico Paz was brilliant for Como vs. Inter Milan
In the loss to Inter Milan, Nico Paz was scintillating. He created two goals out of nothing at the end of the first half to give Como that initial 2-0 lead, forcing a great save out of Yann Sommer for the first after an insane bit of close control skill on the ball before then beating Sommer with an even more precise curled finish on the turf for the second goal.
Even for Como's third from the spot, Paz played a crucial role, drawing a penalty. And twice in the dying minutes, crosses from Paz nearly yielded a fourth and equalizing goal for the home side, as he showed off the full gamut of his intelligence and creative and dribbling capacities.
Real Madrid do have an excellent playmaker in Arda Guler, but even he isn't quite like Paz. Because what separates Paz from the current crop of Madrid playmakers is his ability to beat players one on one, creating scoring chances for himself and others off the dribble. He is so much better than Franco Mastantuono that Real Madrid should honestly feel a bit embarrassed for spending so much on the Argentinian when they had his superior countryman already on their books.
After dominating one of the best teams in European football and the clear top team in Italy even as many of his teammates floundered, Paz proved that the big time at Real Madrid is not a step too high for him.