Position 13 and 14 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gimnasia y Esgrima has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnasia y Esgrima this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ulises Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout30 Oct 2028
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 1‑2 Sebastián Campos left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Matías Muñoz is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulises Sánchez 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
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 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Sebastián Campos to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gimnasia y Esgrima, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Beaten 4 times, 1 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
Talleres next, and one man in the Gimnasia y Esgrima dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
At 19 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulises Sánchez 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ángel Castañares has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Santiago Rodríguez in the middle of it, and Instituto unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnasia y Esgrima can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sebastián Campos after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Diego Cerón 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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gimnasia y Esgrima is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnasia y Esgrima this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sebastián Campos after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The dugoutTomás O'Connor asks for a word with the manager
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnasia y Esgrima can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
$39.0K settles it between the clubs for Lautaro Daus
Defensores have accepted the money. What Gimnasia y Esgrima do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Gimnasia y Esgrima asked and Boca Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnasia y Esgrima this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Muñoz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Something was said to Benjamín Borruel and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Franco Saavedra signs something — a contract at Gimnasia y Esgrima or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gimnasia y Esgrima can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
$59.0K on the table at Madryn. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Julián Ceballos and Gimnasia y Esgrima agree another 4 years.
42 appearances and 8 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Gimnasia y Esgrima asked and Madryn said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Cerro Largo offered $810.0K; Rentistas said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kevin Martínez has, at Cerro Largo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The chase for Kevin Martínez ended with $150.0K changing hands and Bella Italia out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Washington Aguerre 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.
River Plate paid $170.0K and Cerro Largo 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 Germán Guiffrey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Huracán have kept their man, and Cerro Largo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Cerro Largo have had the benefit of it.
Bella Italia have accepted the money. What Cerro Largo do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $170.0K — a club that wants Kevin Martínez enough to be asked twice.
Washington Aguerre 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 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Enrique Almeida will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cerro Largo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cerro Largo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Cerro Largo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Germán Guiffrey 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bruno Mendes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutBruno Hernández has become a man the manager trusts
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnasia y Esgrima can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ulises Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Benjamín Borruel 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gimnasia y Esgrima, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cerro Largo can pretend not to have heard.
Enzo Copetti 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Cerro Largo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Germán Guiffrey 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cerro Largo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
5 clean sheets from 15 appearances at Platense. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Position 6 on 36 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Largo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cerro Largo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Germán Guiffrey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cerro Largo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Washington Aguerre and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Cerro Largo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Germán Guiffrey 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.
Nobody at Cerro Largo 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.
Enzo Copetti 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 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.
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 Facundo da Costa is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Cerro Largo. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Enzo Copetti’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Facundo da Costa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cerro Largo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Germán Guiffrey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Cerro Largo 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.
Enzo Copetti 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 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.
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 Gustavo Viera is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cerro Largo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
15 appearances at Platense and the goals have stopped going in. Cerro Largo lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Position 6, 36 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Washington Aguerre 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Axel Baltar is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Cerro Largo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Germán Guiffrey 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 Facundo da Costa is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Largo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cerro Largo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Cerro Largo, another week without a signature from Pedro González.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Piegas 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 Alexis Piegas is on it.
In brief
The dugoutAlexis Piegas knocks on the manager’s door
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cerro Largo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Marbella for Axel Baltar 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Germán Guiffrey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Enzo Copetti 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 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Denilson Mena has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Cerro Largo have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The phone has started ringing about Axel Baltar again, and this time the name on the line is Marbella. Cerro Largo are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Cerro Largo will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cerro Largo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
15 appearances at Platense and the goals have stopped going in. Cerro Largo lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Position 6 on 36 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cerro Largo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Germán Guiffrey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cerro Largo can tell you which week it ends in.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Largo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cerro Largo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Miramar Misiones will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Maximiliano Zelaya has pre-agreed a move to Cerro Largo, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Cerro Largo pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Joaquin Varela was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Cerro Largo dressing room was either.
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 Bruno Hernández is on it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at San Lorenzo is saying, and nobody at Cerro Largo is enjoying the guessing.
Washington Aguerre 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.
“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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Alexis Piegas 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Joaquin Varela after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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 Fenix.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bruno Hernández provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cerro Largo can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cerro Largo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Enzo Copetti 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 offer from Miramar Misiones for Germán Guiffrey 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.
Everything agreed with San Telmo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Gimnasia y Esgrima will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnasia y Esgrima this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from University of Pretoria for Franco Saavedra 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnasia y Esgrima can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gimnasia y Esgrima have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ulises Sánchez 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 did not go to Plaza Colonia to sit and watch. I want to come back to Gimnasia y Esgrima and fight for my place.” 7 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tomás O'Connor trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnasia y Esgrima can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gimnasia y Esgrima they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnasia y Esgrima this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Matías Muñoz's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sebastián Campos after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnasia y Esgrima this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑3 against Unión de Santa Fe, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnasia y Esgrima can pretend not to have heard.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Franco Saavedra signs something — a contract at Gimnasia y Esgrima or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Gimnasia y Esgrima have no good answer.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Santiago Rodríguez provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gimnasia y Esgrima they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Santiago Rodríguez. 2‑1 against Deportivo Riestra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gimnasia y Esgrima will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gimnasia y Esgrima is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gimnasia y Esgrima this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ezequiel Muñoz’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gimnasia y Esgrima needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gimnasia y Esgrima, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gimnasia y Esgrima they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Gimnasia y Esgrima can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ismael Cortez 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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
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 1‑2 Sebastián Campos left the room before anybody could ask which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gimnasia y Esgrima, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gimnasia y Esgrima will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gimnasia y Esgrima they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnasia y Esgrima can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aldosivi have kept their man, and Gimnasia y Esgrima go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Benjamín Borruel 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gimnasia y Esgrima, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Muñoz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Gimnasia y Esgrima game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cerro runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Esteban Fernández trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rosario Central waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gimnasia y Esgrima is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gimnasia y Esgrima will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Gimnasia y Esgrima, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Agustín Módica again, and this time the name on the line is Racing Club. Gimnasia y Esgrima are listening politely and promising nothing.
Ulises Sánchez 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. San Lorenzo have kept their man, and Gimnasia y Esgrima go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Muñoz 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gimnasia y Esgrima, and 0 appearances in 0 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutTomás O'Connor asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Newell's Old Boys waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gimnasia y Esgrima is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gimnasia y Esgrima can pretend not to have heard.
Tomás O'Connor 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ezequiel Muñoz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gimnasia y Esgrima, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 terraces28 Dec 2026
Supporters make their feelings known about Ismael Cortez
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Gimnasia y Esgrima would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.