Marked for Alejandro Cabrera
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Mateo Rodríguez: 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.” Estudiantes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad9 Nov 2026
40 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad9 Nov 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 Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Gabriel Alanís 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Andrés Sosa 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Tomás González
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Estudiantes
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Estudiantes are no longer polite ones.
Market12 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A brace, and Mateo Bajamich takes the afternoon — 8.20
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateo Bajamich provided it, and the 8.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 68 days on the sidelines for Alejandro Cabrera, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Gabriel Alanís and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tobías Leiva and Estudiantes agree another 4 years.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Agustín Lastra
“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.
Match10 Oct 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Lautaro Herrera 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Oct 2026
9 matches without a win for Estudiantes
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Estudiantes are no longer polite ones.
Match3 Oct 2026
9 matches without a goal for Estudiantes
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market5 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 Estudiantes can pretend not to have heard.
Match5 Oct 2026
Estudiantes are in real trouble now
Position 14, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Alejandro Cabrera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Alanís 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Mauro Valiente
“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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Oct 2026
15 new faces, and Estudiantes 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Sep 2026
Ramón Ábila 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 Estudiantes can pretend not to have heard.
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Estudiantes
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Estudiantes are no longer polite ones.
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a goal for Estudiantes
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Gabriel Alanís 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Lastra 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
“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 dugout28 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Sebastián Ferreyra to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Sep 2026
“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 Estudiantes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Gabriel Alanís 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergio Ojeda, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alejandro Cabrera trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Lautaro Herrera 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.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Agustín Lastra’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Estudiantes needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ramón Ábila 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 Estudiantes have no good answer.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Estudiantes. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market21 Sep 2026
Estudiantes have let the market know Francisco Suárez can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market7 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 Estudiantes can pretend not to have heard.
Match5 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Estudiantes
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Estudiantes are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Sep 2026
6 matches without a goal for Estudiantes
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Sep 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 Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Agustín Lastra 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
15 new faces, and Estudiantes 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
177 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Estudiantes know what they have.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Estudiantes — 7.72
1 for Francisco Romero, marked 7.72, 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.
Market3 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.
Market3 Aug 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 Estudiantes can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gabriel Alanís and Estudiantes agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Alejandro Cabrera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Gabriel Alanís 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Sarmiento made Estudiantes work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.