2‑2 against Once Caldas, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Pedro Bicalho was at the centre of the description.
Fluminense will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Botafogo were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Once Caldas the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Botafogo will enjoy reviewing.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Botafogo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
7.96, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Chris Ramos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Botafogo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitinho 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 watch every Botafogo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Estoril Praia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.19 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
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 7.78 for the rest of it.
A season average of 7.27 with 20 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitinho 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Criciúma spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Marked 8.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Botafogo 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 Botafogo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Botafogo have gone to Cruzeiro with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Up for the corner, and Alix Vinicius delivers — 7.93
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Alix Vinicius scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Botafogo offered $1.1M; Cruzeiro 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.
$14.8M was the most the club would pay and Palmeiras were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Chris Ramos had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The fee is $3.7M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Vasco da Gama drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.1M — a club that wants Juninho enough to be asked twice.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Botafogo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botafogo can pretend not to have heard.
Botafogo asked and Palmeiras said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
$8.0M on the table at Sport Recife. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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 Botafogo have had the benefit of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Botafogo can pretend not to have heard.
The fee is $2.1M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Bragantino drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
“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 Botafogo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rwan Cruz commits to Botafogo for another 4 years.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Batista 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.
Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.
Santos paid $16.8M and Botafogo took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“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.
$3.8M on the table at Bragantino. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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 Botafogo have had the benefit of it.
Cristian Medina has gone, the accounts have $16.8M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Flamengo paid $2.5M and Botafogo took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
A brace, and Arthur Cabral takes the afternoon — 9.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Arthur Cabral provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nahuel Ferraresi scored, was marked 7.51, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
7 goals in one match, Arthur Cabral on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Botafogo and Remo.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chris Ramos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Botafogo, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Daniel Araujo, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Words at Botafogo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Medina 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gabriel Vasconcelos is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Something was said to Allan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Botafogo, another week without a signature from Pedro Bicalho.
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 Bastos is on it.
7 goals in 27 games at Aguilas Doradas — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Botafogo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” CRB had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alisson did not need any: 8.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Juazeirense moved on, Edenílson reports back to Botafogo, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Botafogo know it.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Botafogo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Botafogo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Botafogo offered $4.3M; Avaí 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.
Botafogo asked and Cruzeiro 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 Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Cristian Medina had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Botafogo offered $4.9M; Flamengo 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.2M — a club that wants Thalisson Gabriel enough to be asked twice.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Botafogo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.