Juan Musso 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Ilias Kostis 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 easiest signature of my career.” Ilias Kostis and Atlético Madrileño agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Atlético Madrileño will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
“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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sabadell? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dani Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Next up on the road: Algeciras, position 6. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Rayane Belaid has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Gerónimo Spina on the training pitch
Jorge Castillo, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94
A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlético Madrileño can pretend not to have heard.
Ilias Kostis 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerónimo Spina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rafa Llorente and Atlético Madrileño agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Aleksa Purić 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Fernando Gómez after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“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 dugout7 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Javi Morcillo
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atlético Madrileño lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Castillo 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.
“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.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Arnau Ortiz was the best thing in any of them.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Arnau Ortiz has let it be known that he does not like the way Atlético Madrileño are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atlético Madrileño lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Rafa Llorente 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Arnau Ortiz. 1‑0 against Sanluqueño, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleksa Purić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Eldense next, and one man in the Atlético Madrileño dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Chances created: 7. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alejandro Mestanza did not need any: 8.11, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Javier Boñar is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Hércules defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
4 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Atlético Madrileño can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleksa Purić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Fernando Gómez was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Atlético Madrileño dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Villarreal B? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Real Murcia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atlético Madrileño people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The bid was some way short and Atlético Madrileño did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Aleksa Purić 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 easiest signature of my career.” Arnau Ortiz and Atlético Madrileño agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Rafa Llorente 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arnau Ortiz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Atlético Madrileño, another week without a signature from Javi Serrano.
The name of Mario De Luis has come up in conversations Atlético Madrileño were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Carlos Giménez and Atlético Madrileño agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleksa Purić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atlético Madrileño, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Still no offer on the table, and Carlos Giménez’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.