Jean Butez, Como's Belgian goalkeeper, faces another high-profile examination this pre-season as the Lariani prepare to meet Liverpool in a friendly, the latest in a sequence of top-level tests that has defined Fà bregas's summer preparations. The match arrives days after Como held Premier League champions Arsenal to a 1-1 draw in London before falling in a penalty shootout — a result that keeps Butez's name in the conversation as the new Serie A campaign approaches.
The significance for Butez is straightforward: he enters the 2025-26 season as the last line of defence for a side that finished fourth in 2024-25 with 71 points from 38 matches, conceding just 29 goals across the entire campaign. That defensive record is one of the most compelling in the division, and Butez's contribution to it — reflected in a season average rating of 7.20 — established him as a genuine asset rather than a passenger in Como's European push. The question now is whether he can sustain that level when the competitive fixtures resume.
The pre-season schedule Cesc Fà bregas has constructed for his Como side has been deliberately ambitious. Facing Arsenal at the Emirates and then Liverpool in quick succession is not routine summer housekeeping; it is a deliberate stress test of the squad's readiness. For a goalkeeper, these fixtures carry particular weight. Shootout outcomes aside, the 1-1 draw against Arsenal — with Trevoh Chalobah making his debut for Como and Ivan Baturina scoring — demonstrated that the collective defensive structure remains coherent under pressure.
Butez is 31, at an age where goalkeepers typically enter their period of peak reliability. His AI overall rating of 73 out of 100 reflects a player who is competent and consistent rather than spectacular, which is precisely what a side with Como's defensive ambitions requires. A goalkeeper who organises, reads the game, and limits errors is more valuable to FÃ bregas's system than one who occasionally produces the extraordinary but introduces uncertainty.
The Liverpool friendly will tell FÃ bregas something useful about his squad's fitness and cohesion, but for Butez specifically it is an opportunity to close the pre-season on a composed note. Como's defensive record last season was built on structure and collective discipline; the goalkeeper's role was to protect what the team had built, not to rescue it. If Butez can demonstrate that solidity again against Liverpool, he heads into the Serie A opener with the argument already made.