15 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.
The shirt still fits. David is back at Internacional, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Thiago Mendes has just signed for Internacional, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Internacional can pretend not to have heard.
Fluminense paid $3.5M and Internacional took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Gustavo Scarpa 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Internacional 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 The request is on a desk at Internacional, and it is not being withdrawn.
Internacional have gone to Vasco da Gama 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Internacional this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Palmeiras; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Internacional asked and Crawley Town 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 name of Anthoni has come up in conversations Internacional were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
“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 Internacional, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sampaio Correa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Internacional is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Internacional asked and Fluminense 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 offer went to Ceará this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“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 Internacional hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $5.8M — a club that wants Matheus Araújo enough to be asked twice.
6 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.
13 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.
William 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
4 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Internacional 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 Internacional this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Gustavo Scarpa’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Internacional.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Renato Ribeiro kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Internacional training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Prado 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 Internacional 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Internacional know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Internacional, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.31 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Niclas Eliasson 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.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Vitinho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. 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.
Marked 8.16 — 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sergio Rochet 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 dugout3 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Renato Ribeiro kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Marked 8.18 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Renato Ribeiro on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Internacional heard it as anything else.
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 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.
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 Bruno Henrique has written the date down.
Position 6, 39 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Internacional 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Internacional has been clear about where Samuel Flórez stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Braian Aguirre signs something — a contract at Internacional or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutSamuel Flórez knocks on the manager's door
Niclas Eliasson 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 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Internacional training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Augusto Mosquera 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 Internacional, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Kayky is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Victor Gabriel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Internacional the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gustavo Scarpa 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Internacional training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Augusto Mosquera 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 Internacional 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.
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 Jemerson has written the date down.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Victor Gabriel had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Vitor Carvalho 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 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.
39 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Vasco da Gama moved on, Anthoni reports back to Internacional, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Internacional this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kayky, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Internacional training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Augusto Mosquera 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 Kayky is on it.
Sergio Rochet 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.
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
The offer from Corinthians for Alexandro Bernabei 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Internacional have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Internacional asked and Al Jazira said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gustavo Scarpa has, at Internacional, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Alexandro Bernabei 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 Guillermo Maripán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 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.
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.
Braga did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $11.1M for Vitor Carvalho, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
The offer from Corinthians for Vitinho 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.
The offer went to Cruzeiro this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Recife have kept their man, and Internacional go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vitor Carvalho has just signed for Internacional, and for once the answer mattered.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Internacional will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Cruzeiro had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Internacional did not stop to explain themselves.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Internacional training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jemerson 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Renato Ribeiro on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Victor Gabriel
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Internacional will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Internacional heard it as anything else.
Alexandro Bernabei 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.
Something was said to Alan Patrick and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Alexandro Bernabei has come out of that comparison in the side, and Internacional have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Internacional will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A brace, and Alerrandro takes the afternoon — 9.45
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alerrandro provided it, and the 9.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Bruno Gomes 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.
Marked 8.36 — 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Internacional will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Internacional this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ceará made Internacional work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Vitinho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.46. 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 ratings12 Oct 2026
Alerrandro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
Marked 8.07 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juninho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Internacional will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The goal that put Botafogo ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Internacional equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Internacional are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.