Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlético Mineiro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings29 Apr 2030
Up for the corner, and Fausto Vera delivers — 7.65
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Fausto Vera scored, was marked 7.65, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Gustavo Silva 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlético Mineiro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 17 actions, 6.80, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Lyanco 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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Gustavo Silva 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.
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Paulo Viana 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sérgio Tavares is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atlético Mineiro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Atlético Mineiro is running low.
Lyanco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Gustavo Silva 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Atlético Mineiro will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Nobody at Atlético Mineiro 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Atlético Mineiro has been clear about where Vitinho stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Atlético Mineiro, another week without a signature from Everton Galdino.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atlético Mineiro have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fred 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Atlético Mineiro told Ángelo Preciado something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Zé Ivaldo 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.
Nobody at Atlético Mineiro 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atlético Mineiro have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlético Mineiro can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Silva 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.
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 Fausto Vera is on it.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Atlético Mineiro than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlético Mineiro can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlético Mineiro they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Palmeiras paid $4.5M and Atlético Mineiro took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lyanco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atlético Mineiro lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atlético Mineiro people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Atlético Mineiro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jonathan Silva has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlético Mineiro they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atlético Mineiro have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Atlético Mineiro, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlético Mineiro is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Renan Lodi 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.
“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 Atlético Mineiro hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Silva 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Atlético Mineiro has been clear about where Júnior Santos stands, which is more than many ever get.
A point taken on 95 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Atlético Mineiro, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Atlético Mineiro told Bruninho something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Fábio Borges after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody at Atlético Mineiro 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atlético Mineiro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Riccieli reports back to Atlético Mineiro with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lyanco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Lyanco is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Júnior Santos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Atlético Mineiro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Renan Lodi 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.
“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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Raí has just signed for Atlético Mineiro, and for once the answer mattered.
Atlético Mineiro asked and Fortaleza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Atlético Mineiro will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Júnior Santos 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.
“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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Atlético Mineiro and Bahia in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Natanael will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atlético Mineiro the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Atlético Mineiro told Fausto Vera something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.