Marked for Tomás Galván
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Oct 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against Belgrano, and it could have been more.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.05, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market19 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market19 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at River Plate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A defender's goal wins it for River Plate — 7.94
1 for Fausto Vera, marked 7.94, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Lautaro Rivero is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Ángel Correa at his very best
Marked 8.95. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at River Plate.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.38, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad19 Oct 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 River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Celta to sit and watch. I want to come back to River Plate and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Juan Villordo 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lautaro Rivero, and the manager let it.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mauro Arambarri signs something — a contract at River Plate or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Lucas Beltrán 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 Lucas Beltrán trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
Market12 Oct 2026
8 appearances at 7.01, and a dressing room that has stopped talking about the fee. The hardest part of any move is the part nobody sees.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes Tomás Galván a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at River Plate. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Sep 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 River Plate can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mauro Arambarri 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Mauro Arambarri at his very best
Marked 8.15. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at River Plate.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at River Plate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Rivero 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomás Galván, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Iván Miranda on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Sep 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market21 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at River Plate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.74 for the rest of it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Thiago Almada 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ángel Correa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑0, already talking about the next one.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Sep 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Barracas Central left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Mauro Arambarri at his very best
Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at River Plate.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at River Plate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Rivero 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Iván Miranda to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout14 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Tobías Andrada had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nicolás Otamendi 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at River Plate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Rivero 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and River Plate are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market7 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thiago Almada signs something — a contract at River Plate or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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 Sebastián Driussi is on it.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
San Telmo ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Morelia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at River Plate is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Tomás Galván had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to River Plate's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at River Plate has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Gimnàstic have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tobías Andrada. The answer from River Plate has not changed — yet.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Sebastián Driussi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Fausto Vera
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Málaga for Santiago Sosa Yung 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Business is business: David Barbona goes
Ypsonas paid $920.0K and Defensa y Justicia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 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 Defensa y Justicia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Damián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Tomás Galván has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Defensa y Justicia have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad17 Aug 2026
13 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sergio Arias was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Defensa y Justicia dressing room was either.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Boca Juniors will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ángel Correa again, and this time the name on the line is Genoa. River Plate are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Tomás Galván 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Mauro Arambarri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.51 on the card, and the River Plate support went home talking about one name.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Rivero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Aug 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Half-satisfied: Iván Miranda on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Market17 Aug 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mauro Arambarri signs something — a contract at River Plate or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
There is money circling River Plate
Nothing signed, nothing denied, and a lot of people suddenly very careful about their wording. Supporters who have been through one of these know the quiet part lasts months.
Market3 Aug 2026
Cesena come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and River Plate did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market3 Aug 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicolás Otamendi and River Plate agree another 1 years.
Squad3 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 River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“139 caps was 139 more than the boy who started ever expected.” At 38 he has stepped away from the national side and has not stepped away from River Plate.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Sebastián Driussi again, and this time the name on the line is Cádiz. River Plate are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match1 Aug 2026
Racing Club left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.