Marked for Facundo Cambeses
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 51. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match21 Apr 2027
0‑0 against Atlanta, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad26 Apr 2027
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Market26 Apr 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match24 Apr 2027
4 matches without a win for Racing Club
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Racing Club are no longer polite ones.
Match24 Apr 2027
4 matches without a goal for Racing Club
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vasilj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Matías Pérez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Looking ahead26 Apr 2027
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Apr 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Racing Club can pretend not to have heard.
Match17 Apr 2027
After 10 games, Racing Club finally taste it again
The first defeat in 10 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Aldosivi; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vasilj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Matías Pérez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikola Vasilj, and the manager let it.
Match17 Apr 2027
Aldosivi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Feb 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Racing Club scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Match27 Feb 2027
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Racing Club can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Matías Pérez 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 Racing Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces1 Mar 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match27 Feb 2027
Three points for Racing Club, 1‑0 the final word against River Plate in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Marco Di Cesare falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad1 Mar 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Facundo Cambeses has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
16 days out for Martín Barrios after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Racing Club will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match20 Feb 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Racing Club have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vasilj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Matías Pérez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match20 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Andrés Vombergar’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Racing Club.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leandro Milito and Racing Club agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A mark of 7.66, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Martín Barrios out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Racing Club will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market1 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Racing Club have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market1 Feb 2027
Alfonso Espino wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Racing Club hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Racing Club training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Vasilj 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Matías Pérez 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 Racing Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ignacio Rodríguez is on it.
Market1 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Facundo Cambeses’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Racing Club have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Jan 2027
River Plate come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Racing Club did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
$700.0K was the most the club would pay and Huracán were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Matías Daniele is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Vasilj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Matías Pérez 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 Racing Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Di Cesare, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Market21 Dec 2026
Al Ain did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $10.5M for Soufiane Rahimi, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
The deal with Gimnasia y Esgrima is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Market21 Dec 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Racing Club people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market21 Dec 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Caracas had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market21 Dec 2026
Al-Diriyah did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $4.3M for Nikola Vasilj, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
$330.0K settles it between the clubs for Raúl Loaiza
Lanús have accepted the money. What Racing Club do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
$410.0K on the table at Boca Juniors. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad21 Dec 2026
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Matías Pérez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Racing Club have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Matías Pérez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market23 Nov 2026
The name of Facundo Cambeses keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Racing Club say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Adrián Fernández has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Racing Club 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Andrés Vombergar has written the date down.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Racing Club, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Racing Club may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Match31 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Sarmiento, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrés Vombergar, and the manager let it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Racing Club dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Matko Miljevic was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every Racing Club game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dorados runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Federico Peralta left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Oct 2026
Galo Volpe hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Racing Club can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Matías Pérez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Matías Zaracho falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Federico Peralta after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Marco Di Cesare asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Banfield will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.15 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market19 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Racing Club can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Matías Pérez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adrián Martínez. 2‑0 against Gimnasia La Plata, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Zaracho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Federico Peralta, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Sep 2026
After 9 games, Racing Club finally taste it again
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Rosario Central; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Matías Pérez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Conechny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
A test against the best for Racing Club
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Argentinos Juniors.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Tomás Conechny knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tomás Conechny trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match19 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Racing Club
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Marco Di Cesare and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Matías Pérez
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.10 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Racing Club had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Tomás Conechny asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Match19 Sep 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Aldosivi came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Duván Vergara’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Racing Club needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Cesena for Tomás Conechny 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Marcos Acuña yet — 8.02
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Matko Miljevic and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match15 Aug 2026
Belgrano made Racing Club work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Racing Club training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Zaracho 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matko Miljevic, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Federico Peralta kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Racing Club heard it as anything else.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matías Zaracho and Racing Club agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Racing Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Racing Club are still strangers to each other
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.18 on the card, and the Racing Club support went home talking about one name.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Federico Peralta after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.