117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Santos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Santos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Santos can pretend not to have heard.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Santos can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Santos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Santos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neymar 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bahia will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Titi has pre-agreed a move to Santos, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Santos can pretend not to have heard.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.60 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Willian Arão 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.
Rony 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Santos can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Neymar provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Add another name to the list: Hapoel Acre have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yuri Leles. The answer from Santos has not changed — yet.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Santos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Willian Arão 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rony provided it, and the 9.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Santos, and it is not being withdrawn.
The most awkward business a club does is signing tomorrow's answer while today's is still in the building. Yuri Leles comes from Bragantino for exactly that purpose, and the handover will not be discussed publicly by anybody.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Santos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Nascimento will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Santos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Willian Arão 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.
Rony 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Luan Peres 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 name of Alexis Duarte has come up in conversations Santos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Willian Arão 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Santos has been clear about where Thaciano stands, which is more than many ever get.
4 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.
Match27 May 2028
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Santos. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Player ratings29 May 2028
Mao Hosoya was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.69. 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Santos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Willian Arão 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Santos game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Queretaro runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A 2‑0 win over Atletico Goianiense, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Position 1, 15 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Santos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 7.81 for the rest of 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 Santos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Santos training over how hard people work
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Neymar and Santos agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Willian Arão 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.
Rony 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 young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Santos who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“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 Santos, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 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.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Mao Hosoya was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.58. 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Luan Peres 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Santos has been clear about where Zé Ivaldo stands, which is more than many ever get.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Santos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Santos did not have in the autumn.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Santos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Willian Arão 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. Miguel Terceros 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pedro Machado is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Santos interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Carlos Amaral keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Santos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Luan Peres 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.
Willian Arão 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Morelia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Morelia, 3‑2 the final word against Puebla in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Lucas Varaldo 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.
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.
Cristian Calderón 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Morelia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Ángel Díaz 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.
At 23 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.
Three points for Morelia, 1‑0 the final word against Tijuana in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Rony was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
0‑4 to Monterrey, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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 Morelia, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Morelia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Morelia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Varaldo 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 phone has started ringing about Hugo Weckmann again, and this time the name on the line is Universidad de Chile. Morelia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Rony 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Morelia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Morelia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Varaldo 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Santos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Santiago Paiva 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 Santos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Willian Arão 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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Santos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Rony 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Lucas Varaldo 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.
Cristian Calderón 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Morelia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Varaldo 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.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Rony was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
Rony 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Luis Ángel Díaz 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.
Marked 7.81. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Morelia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén Del Campo 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Morelia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Morelia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Varaldo 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.
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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Rony 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Lucas Varaldo 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.
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.
In brief
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Héctor Holguín
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Marcelo Martins clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Danilo Rocha recited it perfectly.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Willian Arão 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Morelia 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.
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.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
Nobody at Morelia 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. Chiapas will replay every second of the added time for a week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Morelia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Lucas Varaldo 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Héctor Holguín signs something — a contract at Morelia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
Player ratingsOff the bench and decisive: Zahid Muñoz
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Willian Arão 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.
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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 112th minute. Dorados will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Morelia can pretend not to have heard.
Cristian Calderón 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Morelia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Varaldo 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.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Morelia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑3 to Cruz Azul, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Morelia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The name of Hugo Weckmann has come up in conversations Morelia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Cristian Calderón 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.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Morelia deserved better, and so did he.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Morelia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Morelia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Lucas Varaldo 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.
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Willian Arão 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.
Alexis Duarte 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Santos, another week without a signature from Hyoran.
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” San Luis suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to Santos, and the summer will force it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Santos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Diogenes reports back to Santos with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Santiago Paiva 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Santos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Willian Arão 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 kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Benjamín Rollheiser provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Lokeren for Rony 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.
Neymar 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.
9 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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santos 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Santos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
39 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Santiago Paiva 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Santos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neymar 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rony. 2‑0 against Botafogo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Rony was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Position 18 and 20 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.
Lucas Veríssimo 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.