Jean Butez, Como's Belgian goalkeeper, conceded the decisive penalty in a shootout loss against Arsenal during a pre-season friendly in London, with the Lariani drawing 1-1 in normal time before falling 5-4 on penalties. The match, played at the Emirates Stadium, gave Fàbregas's side their most demanding examination of the summer — and gave Butez a moment he will want to correct before competitive football resumes.
The significance extends beyond a single pre-season result. Como finished the 2025-26 Serie A campaign in fourth place with 71 points from 38 matches, conceding just 29 goals across the season — a defensive record that reflects well on Butez and the structure Francesc Fàbregas has built at the Sinigaglia. A goalkeeper who helped anchor that kind of defensive solidity carries real weight heading into what promises to be a more demanding campaign. A penalty error in a friendly does not erase that, but it does sharpen the scrutiny on a position where margins are thin.
Butez averaged a rating of 7.20 across the season, a figure that places him comfortably among the more reliable goalkeepers in the division. His one assist across 38 appearances is a minor detail; the 29 goals conceded across the entire campaign is the number that defines his contribution. For a side that scored 65 times, that defensive foundation was the quiet engine of Como's European push.
The Arsenal friendly offered a different kind of test. Trevoh Chalobah made his debut for the Gunners in the match, and Nico Baturina's goal earned Como their equalizer in normal time before Álvaro Morata missed the decisive kick in the shootout. Butez's own error in the sequence meant the Belgian was not the only one to falter from the spot, but for a goalkeeper, conceding in a shootout carries a particular weight — it is the one moment in football where the pressure sits entirely on the man between the posts.
His AI overall rating of 73 out of 100, with a potential ceiling of 72, suggests a player who has largely reached his level — consistent, dependable, but unlikely to suddenly transform into something categorically different. That is not a criticism. Como's fourth-place finish was built on reliability, and Butez has been central to that. The question for the season ahead is whether that reliability holds when the fixtures grow harder and the margins narrower.
At 31, Butez enters the new campaign with a contract that runs to 2030 and a club that has genuine European ambitions. The Emirates shootout is a footnote. How he responds when the Serie A season begins will be the real measure.