Jean Butez, Como's Belgian goalkeeper, completed the Lariani's pre-season schedule across two meetings with Liverpool — drawing one and losing the other — as Cesc Fàbregas's side prepares to defend fourth place in Serie A heading into 2025-26.
The significance of that double-header extends beyond friendly results. Como finished last season with 71 points from 38 matches, conceding just 29 goals across the campaign — a defensive record that places Butez at the centre of one of the more compelling goalkeeper stories in Italian football. A rating of 7.20 across the season is not the number of a passenger; it reflects consistent, match-shaping contribution from a position that rarely earns column inches unless something goes wrong.
The Liverpool fixtures offered a different kind of examination. Against top-level opposition in a European setting, the Lariani held their own in one match and were beaten in the other, with Gakpo and Jacquet deciding the second game at Anfield. What the data cannot tell us — and what the pre-season only hints at — is whether Butez has refined the elements that came under scrutiny in the Arsenal penalty shootout earlier this summer. What it does confirm is that Fàbregas continues to trust his goalkeeper as a foundation rather than a variable.
The broader context around Como this summer adds pressure of a particular kind. The club is reportedly pursuing Moise Kean from Fiorentina and has been linked to Liam Delap from Chelsea, moves that signal genuine ambition rather than consolidation. When a club builds forward in attack, the goalkeeper's role becomes more exposed: fewer defensive actions, higher stakes on each one. Butez's 7.20 average last season was earned behind a defence that conceded 29 times in 38 matches — a lean total that suggests the work was shared. Whether that structure holds as the squad evolves is the question that matters most.
At 31, Butez is at the age where goalkeepers either cement their standing or begin to be managed around. His AI overall score of 74 with a potential ceiling of 62 suggests the analytical models see him as a player already operating near his ceiling — which, in practical terms, means the value he delivers is reliable rather than speculative. For a club with Scudetto ambitions being discussed seriously in the Italian press, reliable is exactly what the position demands.
The season begins with Como positioned to push rather than merely survive. Butez's job is to make sure the goals-against column stays as lean as it was last year.