Ignacio Bailone

Striker - Nacional
15 Feb 2027
Monday
Process

Marked for Ignacio Bailone

28 Edition

The Nacional Sentinel

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Celso Ortiz out for 131 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nacional will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Matías Almeida says no to Maritzburg United

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Matías Almeida had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Player ratings

Sebastián Vargas beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Words at Nacional training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomás Gutiérrez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

A falling-out at Nacional

Fredy Guerrero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Edgar Romero: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

Boardroom

Nacional turn down the training-ground plan

It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.

Match

Nacional draw a blank against Guarani

The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Guarani defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.

The dugout

When it matters, Carlos Espínola plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

Back issues
20 Edition

The Nacional Sentinel

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Nacional say no — this time

The offer from Libertad for Fabrizio Jara was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Transfer targets

$110.0K settles it between the clubs for Jesús Alvarenga

Guarani have accepted the money. What Nacional do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Transfer targets

Nacional make their move for Víctor Rojas

$140.0K on the table at Libertad. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Market

Angel Cardozo steps up from the Nacional academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Angel Cardozo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Loan watch

Diego Duarte keeps scoring at AVS

18 appearances away from home and 11 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

Squad

A falling-out at Nacional

Matías Almeida and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Carlos Espínola has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Nacional will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Squad

Ignacio Bailone wants to know why he earns less

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Nacional have no good answer.

The terraces

Supporters make their feelings known about Lucas González

The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Nacional would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.

In brief

7 Edition

The Nacional Sentinel

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Only the photograph left for Lucas González

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas González will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nacional the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tobías Sanabria in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nacional this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Nacional training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Almeida is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Loan watch

5 goals on loan for Diego Duarte

5 appearances at AVS and the goals keep coming. Nacional are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Market

Nacional and Joel Figueredo are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Squad

Ignacio Bailone has seen what the next man earns

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Nacional that is a harder question to answer.

In brief