The Defensa y Justicia Post
Match26 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Defensa y Justicia
2‑2 against Arsenal, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market31 Aug 2026
Lucas Souto asks to leave Defensa y Justicia
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Marcos Ledesma
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Cristopher Fiermarin decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Thomas Oliveri
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Éver Banega 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 Defensa y Justicia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
One of those days for Mateo Aguiar
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.90, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Lucas Souto 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A masterclass from Emiliano Cantero
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.
In brief
- Market Semen Padang are about to pick up the phone
- Player ratings Elías Pereyra misses from twelve yards
- Match Defensa y Justicia share the spoils with Vélez