Marked for Kevin Giménez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Jan 2028
Leandro Brey breaks a bone — 124 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 124 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
No deal for Nahuel Arias at that price
Boca Juniors offered $2.7M; San Lorenzo said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market10 Jan 2028
The offer from Deportes Tolima for Dylan Gorosito 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Marco Pellegrino 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Too much change too quickly at Boca Juniors
21 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Leandro Lozano
“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 dugout10 Jan 2028
Ayrton Costa gets picked when it counts
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 Ayrton Costa is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match3 Nov 2027
The tie is over and the right side of it is theirs. 1‑0 on the night, a dressing room that will not come down for a day and a half, and a next round nobody has thought about yet.
Match3 Nov 2027
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market8 Nov 2027
Kevin Giménez 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 Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Nov 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 Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kevin Zenón and Boca Juniors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
At 22 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Pellegrino 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 ratings8 Nov 2027
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Oct 2027
Sebastián Villa damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Match9 Oct 2027
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad11 Oct 2027
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
There were 7 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Oct 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 Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes of Milton Giménez at his very best
Marked 9.51. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Boca Juniors.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
A performance of 8.76 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout11 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Sep 2027
A 2‑0 win over Tigre, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match11 Sep 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Boca Juniors scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Facundo Gulli, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.26
A mark of 8.26 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.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market13 Sep 2027
The offer from Avellino for Camilo Rey Domenech 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.
Market13 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad13 Sep 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 Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Sep 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Boca Juniors did not have in the autumn.
Loan watch13 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Dinamo Makhachkala to sit and watch. I want to come back to Boca Juniors and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 29 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Boca Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Loan watch16 Aug 2027
28 appearances away from home and 20 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Market16 Aug 2027
“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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Baltazar Blum Macías 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.
Squad16 Aug 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 Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Boca Juniors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Pellegrino 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 dugout16 Aug 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leandro Brey and Boca Juniors agree another 5 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Boca Juniors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market19 Jul 2027
“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.
Loan watch19 Jul 2027
24 appearances away from home and 18 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad19 Jul 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 Boca Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market19 Jul 2027
Lucas Blondel has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Boca Juniors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Marco Pellegrino 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Facundo Herrera and Boca Juniors agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch19 Jul 2027
“I watch every Boca Juniors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dibba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 May 2027
3‑0 on the night and the tie is theirs. Somebody else’s season ended in the same ninety minutes, which the celebrations at Boca Juniors are entitled to ignore.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match26 May 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings31 May 2027
No sign of nerves from Dylan Gorosito at 21 — 7.60
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dylan Gorosito did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market31 May 2027
“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.
Market31 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Álvaro Montero
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Álvaro Montero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Boca Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 May 2027
Leandro Paredes 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Emiliano Goñi 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 ratings31 May 2027
A performance of 8.98 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 May 2027
Enner Valencia, 37, rolls back the years — 8.62
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.62 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Up for the corner, and Leandro Paredes delivers — 7.84
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Leandro Paredes scored, was marked 7.84, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market3 May 2027
Kevin Giménez 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 Boca Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Álvaro Montero
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Álvaro Montero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Boca Juniors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 May 2027
Leandro Paredes 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.
Match1 May 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Enner Valencia’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Boca Juniors.
Squad3 May 2027
Marco Pellegrino 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.
Squad3 May 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Agustín Marchesín is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad3 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tomás Márquez and Boca Juniors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Apr 2027
Colón will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Boca Juniors were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Lucas Blondel breaks a bone — 49 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Nothing signed, nothing denied, and a lot of people being careful with their words. Supporters who have been through one of these know the quiet part lasts months.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Williams Alarcón: 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.” Boca Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 Apr 2027
“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.
Market5 Apr 2027
Álvaro Montero has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Boca Juniors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Agustín Marchesín 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Pellegrino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Mar 2027
The run at home goes on for Boca Juniors
18 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match6 Mar 2027
4‑0, and Milton Giménez took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Boca Juniors tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Lucas Blondel breaks a bone — 81 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Mar 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Enner Valencia: 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.” Boca Juniors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Defensive actions: 28, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match6 Mar 2027
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market8 Mar 2027
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market8 Mar 2027
Álvaro Montero has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Boca Juniors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market8 Feb 2027
“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 Boca Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Boca Juniors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Leandro Paredes 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.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market8 Feb 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Juan Carlos Molina 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cóndor 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.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The ground is getting bigger
The plans are signed off at a capacity of 59418. Decisions like this are judged twenty years later, by people who were not in the room when they were taken.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Pellegrino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.