Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergio Martínez 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 Sevilla Atlético this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Sevilla Atlético would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sevilla Atlético, and both men came out saying it was fine.
9 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Iván Herrero could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.20
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.20, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
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 23 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.
10 combined actions and 6.71. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
8 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 Sevilla Atlético this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Pablo Rivera 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lulo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rafa Romero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sevilla Atlético the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Fábio Cardoso 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 at Sevilla Atlético 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Valentino Fattore’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sevilla Atlético needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
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 Miguel Sierra is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nico Guillén trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sevilla Atlético know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sevilla Atlético has to find a result from somewhere.
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.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alberto Collado provided it, and the 9.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sevilla Atlético they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alberto Collado 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.
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 needed Alberto Collado to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Juventud Torremolinos, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Roberto Parra chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
The deal that would have taken Nico Guillén to Girona has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Sevilla Atlético with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Up for the corner, and Pablo Rivera delivers — 7.72
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Pablo Rivera scored, was marked 7.72, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Martínez 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 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.
The phone has started ringing about Nico Guillén again, and this time the name on the line is Girona. Sevilla Atlético are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sevilla Atlético 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Sevilla Atlético than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
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 Israel Domínguez is on it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sevilla Atlético people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Juanca 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.
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 Miguel Sierra is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sevilla Atlético, and both men came out saying it was fine.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sevilla Atlético 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 Sevilla Atlético 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.
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 Israel Domínguez is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iker Muñoz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alberto Collado 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and CE Europa were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Marked 8.17 — 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pablo Rivera and Sevilla Atlético agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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: 17. 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.
Level with 95 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Sevilla Atlético had all but put away. Tarazona will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Sevilla Atlético deserved better, and so did he.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Something was said to David López and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Lulo is on it.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Algeciras defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alberto Collado signs something — a contract at Sevilla Atlético or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Sevilla Atlético would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sevilla Atlético this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Lulo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Sevilla Atlético 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Sevilla Atlético than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Sevilla Atlético and Juventud Torremolinos, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Israel Domínguez and Sevilla Atlético agree another 4 years.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Alberto Collado 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Pablo Rivera was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. 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.
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 hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ibra Sow did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sevilla Atlético has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sevilla Atlético 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Roberto Parra after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sevilla Atlético know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sevilla Atlético has to find a result from somewhere.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
He is 23 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.
0‑1 to Sanluqueño, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Nov 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 0‑1 Roberto Parra left the room before anybody could ask which.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Marbella defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The captaincy has been taken off Nico Guillén. Sevilla Atlético will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.