Marked for Eugenio Raggio
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Dec 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Platense, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
The offer went to Palmeiras 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.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
Platense asked and Ferencvaros said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market28 Dec 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market28 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Platense is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ignacio Vázquez 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Platense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nico López 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Tomás Nasif knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Platense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Nov 2026
Platense sink to position 14
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bruno Sepúlveda, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Platense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nico López 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Platense
Martín Barrios 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Leonardo Heredia asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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 Bautista Merlini has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Platense
10 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.
Match19 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Platense
Position 15 and 3 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Eugenio Raggio: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Platense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Maximiliano Amarfil delivers — 7.94
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Maximiliano Amarfil scored, was marked 7.94, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Platense
Nico López and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Pablo Ferreira is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market19 Oct 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Augusto Lotti has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Platense.
Match17 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
58 days out for Lautaro Vera after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Platense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Platense is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Platense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nico López 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
18 new faces, and Platense 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Leonardo Heredia is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Juan Gauto
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Gastón Togni’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Platense needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market7 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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 Augusto Lotti has written the date down.