Artigas have gone to Boston River with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Luiz 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Anthony da Costa 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Walker Shabazz-Edwards and Artigas agree another 4 years.
In brief
Player ratingsAnthony da Costa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Artigas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Artigas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Salto runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Joaquin Fernandez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Walker Shabazz-Edwards, and the manager let it.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Artigas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio 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.
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ignacio Martínez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Artigas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ignacio Martínez has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Fabricio Santos 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Artigas is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.17, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yonathan Gorgoroso and Artigas agree another 2 years.
Ignacio Santillán 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 dugout8 May 2028
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Joaquin Fernandez to a room that had heard them before.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Luiz has come out of that comparison in the side, and Artigas have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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 Anthony da Costa is on it.
Ignacio Santillán 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.
At 21 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and La Luz were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Andrés Bolaños has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
In brief
SquadWords at Artigas training over how hard people work
“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 Artigas, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Artigas has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Artigas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Santillán 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.
Half the programme played, position 5, 11 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Gracés, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
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.” Joaquin Fernandez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Artigas 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.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Artigas will try not to make too much of it.
“I watch every Artigas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Salto runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Fabricio Santos arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Artigas 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Artigas can pretend not to have heard.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Artigas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.86, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“I watch every Artigas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Mar de Fondo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Joaquin Fernandez could afford to be generous.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Ignacio Santillán 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.
“I watch every Artigas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Salto runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Yonathan Gorgoroso is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
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.
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 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Artigas is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“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 dugout28 Feb 2028
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 1‑2 Joaquin Fernandez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Martín Boselli has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“I watch every Artigas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Salto runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Octavio Pereira has moved up it.
Andrés Bolaños arrives at 36 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Artigas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Artigas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Artigas and Cerro have settled on $410.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Artigas can pretend not to have heard.
Andrés Gigena 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.
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.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Elian Londoño’s negotiating for him
Artigas and Plaza Colonia have settled on $790.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Artigas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Artigas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Andrés Gigena 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Artigas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Artigas has been clear about where Ignacio Martínez stands, which is more than many ever get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Artigas 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Artigas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Artigas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Andrés Gigena 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Artigas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio 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.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Artigas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elian Londoño will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Artigas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Artigas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Artigas will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Artigas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Artigas 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.
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 Víctor Antúnez has written the date down.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Artigas will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Artigas could ask drops and the wages Elian Londoño can ask rise.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cerro keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Artigas have done the hard part with Montevideo City Torque, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Andrés Gigena 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.
“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 Artigas will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nobody at Artigas 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.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Artigas could ask drops and the wages Elian Londoño can ask rise.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nicolás Gracés trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Frontera Rivera have accepted the money. What Artigas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Artigas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Artigas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio 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.
“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 Artigas will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Andrés Gigena 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Joaquin Fernandez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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: 13. 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.
At 21 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.
Half the programme played, position 5, 10 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Facundo Butti 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ivan De Arrascaeta 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lucas Cardozo 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Joaquin Fernandez after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Víctor Antúnez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Artigas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Artigas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio 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.
In brief
The dugoutFabricio Leal knocks on the manager's door
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Artigas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Artigas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 dugout22 Feb 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.” Joaquin Fernandez, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
7 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Artigas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Artigas will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Nahuel Fernández 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.
Artigas had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Montevideo City Torque, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Artigas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Artigas 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.
A new face in his position, and Yonathan Gorgoroso suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Artigas have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolás Gracés will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Artigas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Octavio Pereira 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Artigas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Artigas, another week without a signature from Octavio Pereira.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emilio MacEachen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Anthony da Costa is on it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Artigas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Octavio Pereira 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.
Nobody at Artigas 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Federico Viera trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Artigas could ask drops and the wages Nicolás Gracés can ask rise.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Artigas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 18 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Artigas will try very hard not to make too much of it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Nicolás Gracés is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Víctor Antúnez is living that version at Artigas, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Artigas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Anthony da Costa did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Nicolás Gracés has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Artigas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yonathan Gorgoroso and Artigas agree another 3 years.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Artigas and Cerrito in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
The dugout3 Aug 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 1‑5 defeat, delivered by Joaquin Fernandez to a room that had heard them before.
Beaten 5 times, 4 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.