Marked for Vitinho
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Álvaro Montoro takes the afternoon — 8.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Álvaro Montoro provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Botafogo
Alex Telles and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Álvaro Montoro. 3‑1 against Palmeiras, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
At 19 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Cristian Medina 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Victor Rodrigues could afford to be generous.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Lucas Villalba dropped after a run of poor form
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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Danilo gets picked when it counts
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 Danilo is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Sep 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Osasuna moved on, Álvaro Montoro reports back to Botafogo, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Allan yet — 7.90
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Danilo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
1‑3 to Sport Recife, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Botafogo
Lucas Monzón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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 1‑3 Victor Rodrigues left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luan Polli, and the manager let it.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
Everybody has an opinion about Gabriel Batista
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
In brief
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The dugout
Danilo has become a man the manager trusts
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Market
The Vitinho talk will not go away
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Looking ahead
A reunion for Danilo
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
Alex Telles 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 Botafogo can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mateo Ponte had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Botafogo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market7 Sep 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Osasuna will make the call about Álvaro Montoro this week. Botafogo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Match5 Sep 2026
Three points for Botafogo, 1‑0 the final word against Vasco da Gama in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Álvaro Montoro is the month’s best young player
At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Botafogo will try not to make too much of it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tiquinho Soares, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
In brief
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Player ratings
Vitinho was the difference for Botafogo
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Squad
Botafogo are still strangers to each other
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Aug 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 7.72 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market10 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Danilo runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vitinho and Botafogo agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market10 Aug 2026
Danilo wants more than Botafogo are offering
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Allan 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 dugout10 Aug 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Leonardo Amaral has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Álvaro Montoro at 19 — 7.71
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Álvaro Montoro did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Botafogo heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alex Telles and Botafogo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Alex Telles 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Charles arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Charles has, at Botafogo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Botafogo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Aug 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Vitinho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
A point taken on 85 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.