Marked for Lucas Toffoletti
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings22 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad22 Jul 2030
14 goals and a season average of 7.42 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match20 Jul 2030
0‑2 to Central Norte, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Words at Chacarita Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Acevedo 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 dugout22 Jul 2030
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Miguel Quiroga after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Jun 2030
0‑3 to San Martín SJ, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad24 Jun 2030
22 goals and a season average of 7.53. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market24 Jun 2030
The bid was some way short and Chacarita Juniors did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
The clubs have shaken hands with Rosario Central; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Huracán keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Luca Acevedo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chacarita Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boca Juniors have kept their man, and Chacarita Juniors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Ezequiel Esquivel 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Jun 2030
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad17 Jun 2030
A season average of 7.75 with 23 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market17 Jun 2030
“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 Chacarita Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings17 Jun 2030
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.87, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match15 Jun 2030
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad17 Jun 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lucas Toffoletti and Chacarita Juniors agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ezequiel Esquivel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Jun 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match1 Jun 2030
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Defensores kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Chacarita Juniors will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad3 Jun 2030
A season average of 7.51 with 20 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
No sign of nerves from Ezequiel Esquivel at 21 — 7.62
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ezequiel Esquivel did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.07 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market3 Jun 2030
Juan Rey 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 Chacarita Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Jun 2030
The name of Ezequiel Gerez has come up in conversations Chacarita Juniors were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Luca Acevedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Jun 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 May 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad20 May 2030
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad20 May 2030
A season average of 7.48 with 19 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match18 May 2030
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Chacarita Juniors have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Match18 May 2030
A 4‑3 win over Agropecuario Argentino, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match18 May 2030
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Chacarita Juniors and Agropecuario Argentino, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad20 May 2030
Luca Acevedo 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 ratings20 May 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.59, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Apr 2030
A fracture rules Alexis Domínguez out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chacarita Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match24 Apr 2030
0‑3 against Aldosivi, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad29 Apr 2030
There were 8 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 ratings29 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces29 Apr 2030
0-3. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Defences have started doubling up on Alexis Domínguez
15 goals and a season average of 7.55 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market29 Apr 2030
Pipe 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 Chacarita Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Acevedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match27 Apr 2030
1‑2 to Estudiantes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Apr 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Apr 2030
There were 8 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 ratings15 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Market15 Apr 2030
Only the photograph left for Bruno Lucero
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bruno Lucero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chacarita Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Ezequiel Esquivel 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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Ezequiel Gerez 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 dugout15 Apr 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout15 Apr 2030
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 Gonzalo Mottes is on it.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
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.” Miguel Quiroga chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Apr 2030
38 days out for Alexis Domínguez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chacarita Juniors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match6 Apr 2030
8 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad8 Apr 2030
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.
Market8 Apr 2030
Juan Rey 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 Chacarita Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Acevedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match6 Apr 2030
Estudiantes left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
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Squad8 Apr 2030
Bruno Paz 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 dugout8 Apr 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings1 Apr 2030
Two goals and a mark of 9.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad1 Apr 2030
15 goals and a season average of 7.59. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match30 Mar 2030
7 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match30 Mar 2030
3 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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Luca Acevedo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chacarita Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Mar 2030
A 4‑2 win over San Telmo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Ezequiel Esquivel 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 terraces1 Apr 2030
He is 18 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings25 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings25 Mar 2030
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 10.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad25 Mar 2030
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad25 Mar 2030
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings25 Mar 2030
Luca Acevedo goes up and wins it — 7.85
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.85 for the rest of it.
Squad25 Mar 2030
13 goals and a season average of 7.47. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match23 Mar 2030
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Mar 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
Alexis Domínguez, 33, rolls back the years — 10.00
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad18 Mar 2030
The match ball belongs to Alexis Domínguez, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market18 Mar 2030
Patrón puts it in writing
“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 Chacarita Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Mar 2030
Only the photograph left for Bruno Lucero
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bruno Lucero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chacarita Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match16 Mar 2030
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match16 Mar 2030
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Chacarita Juniors and Almirante Brown, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad18 Mar 2030
A season average of 7.34 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Mar 2030
Beaten 1‑4 by Nueva Chicago, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings11 Mar 2030
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings11 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Luca Acevedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Chacarita Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezequiel Esquivel 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.
Match9 Mar 2030
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
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Player ratings11 Mar 2030
Juan Carlos Paz did the work nobody counts — 6.46
10 combined actions and 6.46. 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.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Feb 2030
1‑5 against San Martín SJ, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad25 Feb 2030
There were 6 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.
Match23 Feb 2030
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chacarita Juniors and San Martín SJ in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Ezequiel Gerez 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.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Acevedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
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Boardroom25 Feb 2030
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
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 1‑5 defeat, delivered by Miguel Quiroga to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Feb 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Market18 Feb 2030
Bruno Lucero has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chacarita Juniors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Luca Acevedo 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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Ezequiel Esquivel 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.
Match16 Feb 2030
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
The manager makes an example of Santino Ortiz
“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 dugout18 Feb 2030
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The dugout18 Feb 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Feb 2030
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match9 Feb 2030
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.
The dugout11 Feb 2030
Lucas Toffoletti: 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.” Chacarita Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
Alexis Domínguez, 33, rolls back the years — 10.00
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ezequiel Esquivel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Ezequiel Gerez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces11 Feb 2030
At 23 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.
Match9 Feb 2030
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Chacarita Juniors. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The dugout11 Feb 2030
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From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings4 Feb 2030
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.66 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings4 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Luca Acevedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Market4 Feb 2030
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ricardo Ramos 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.
Market4 Feb 2030
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Noah García 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.
Market4 Feb 2030
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gustavo Méndez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market4 Feb 2030
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gustavo Aguirre is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Dec 2029
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Chacarita Juniors will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Transfer targets17 Dec 2029
Chacarita Juniors had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at River Plate, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets17 Dec 2029
Chacarita Juniors asked and Colón said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market17 Dec 2029
Gimnasia La Plata pay $390.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Ezequiel Esquivel 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Ezequiel Gerez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
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Market17 Dec 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets17 Dec 2029
Huracán have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Dec 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Dec 2028
Álex Martín has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Córdoba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Juan Gutiérrez 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álvaro Odriozola 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.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
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.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Juanmi
“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 dugout11 Dec 2028
Nicolás Milesi 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 Córdoba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Martín Muñoz after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Iker Álvarez has had enough of the noise
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.