Marked for Nicolás Muñoz
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 40. 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Leandro Versienti
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match22 Sep 2027
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Nicolás Muñoz obliged against Monopoli. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Casarano.
Match22 Sep 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Casarano scored in the 114th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Emmanuele Matino: 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.” Casarano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Nicolás Muñoz, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.75
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Casarano
Niccolò Chiorra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Leandro Versienti
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match18 Sep 2027
At last: Casarano win one
9 matches without a win, and then this, against Picerno. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Age has not caught Vito Leonetti yet — 7.84
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicolás Muñoz is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad20 Sep 2027
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Match18 Sep 2027
Three points for Casarano, 1‑0 the final word against Picerno in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Vincenzo Costantini, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
Cosimo Chiricò damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market9 Aug 2027
Casarano say no — this time
The offer from HJK for Cosimo Patierno 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Casarano have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Casarano
Niccolò Chiorra 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Nicolás Muñoz is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Gaetano Logoluso has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Casarano.
Market9 Aug 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Latina will make the call about Giovanni Pinto this week. Casarano have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Niccolò Chiorra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Casarano can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Nicolás Muñoz is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Vito Leonetti 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.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Casarano
Andrea Santarcangelo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market28 Jun 2027
The name of Niccolò Chiorra keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Casarano say nothing, which says plenty.
Market28 Jun 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Gaetano Logoluso may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
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 Emmanuele Matino has written the date down.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Nicolás Muñoz knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nicolás Muñoz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 May 2027
Cosimo Patierno, 36, rolls back the years — 8.13
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match1 May 2027
5 matches without a win for Casarano
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Casarano are no longer polite ones.
The dugout3 May 2027
Nicolás Muñoz: 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.” Casarano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 May 2027
A season average of 7.23 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad3 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Casarano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout3 May 2027
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincenzo Ferrara 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.
Match1 May 2027
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad3 May 2027
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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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Vito Leonetti asks for a word with the manager
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Player ratings
Federico Giraudo beats them one at a time
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
The knee: Karlo Lulić out for 42 days
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Casarano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Niccolò Chiorra 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Vincenzo Ferrara 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
91% of the income goes out in wages at Casarano
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Muñoz, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Francesco Grandolfo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Casarano's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Casarano has to find a result from somewhere.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
129% of the income goes out in wages at Casarano
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Vincenzo Ferrara 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vincenzo Costantini after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael Cajazzo 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.
Looking ahead30 Nov 2026
Casarano take on the side everybody is chasing
Benevento arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Looking ahead30 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Benevento in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Casarano's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Casarano has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Casarano
Niccolò Chiorra 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Federico D'Angelo 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Casarano can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Vincenzo Ferrara 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
7.47, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Casarano had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.” Vincenzo Costantini chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Giovanni Pinto damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match17 Oct 2026
Casarano caught on 85 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Sorrento scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincenzo Ferrara 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Sorrento leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Ismael Cajazzo 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.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Raffaele Maiello’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Casarano needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Giovanni Pinto
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Denny Pucci is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match10 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Siracusa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luca Chiari has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Davide Pavone 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Casarano
Vincenzo Ferrara 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 dugout12 Oct 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 0‑2 Vincenzo Costantini left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout12 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matteo Martina
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Casarano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Picerno spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Casarano
Flavio Di Dio 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vito Leonetti. 1‑0 against Picerno, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.96 on the card, and the Casarano support went home talking about one name.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Vincenzo Costantini on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Lucas Cuffia gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Casarano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Matteo Martina damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 20 days on the sidelines for Borna Knezović, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match12 Sep 2026
Potenza left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Daniele Ceccarelli 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Vincenzo Costantini to a room that had heard them before.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Casarano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincenzo Ferrara 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Casarano signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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.