It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna 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 Ante Budimir 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 Osasuna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Ramón Arias has written the date down.
Alonso Coello has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“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 The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ante Budimir 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 Aimar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.49. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout1 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Markel Ramírez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Something was said to Matías Gómez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ante Budimir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Federico Pereyra has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Osasuna have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Markel Ramírez after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Famalicao will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Famalicao, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 Famalicao hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Rodrigo Pinheiro 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sorriso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Pedro Santos has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Something was said to Diegão and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Famalicao 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.