Thiago Lugano

Defensive Midfielder - Pontedera
13 Jun 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for Thiago Lugano

32 Edition

The Pontedera Courier

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Pablo Vitali was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 27. 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.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Umberto Saracco

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.

The dugout

Ettore Innocenti says Pontedera went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Pontedera

Davide Guglielmotti 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.

Squad

Sanasi Sy signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sanasi Sy and Pontedera agree another 4 years.

Match

Ascoli take the points off Pontedera

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Luca Piana

“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 dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Seid Korać's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

The dugout

Arturo Ventura faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Arturo Ventura after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

In brief

  • Squad Words at Pontedera training over how hard people work
  • Player ratings An afternoon Seid Korać will want back
  • Looking ahead Home comforts ahead for Pontedera
Back issues
23 Edition

The Pontedera Courier

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Valentino Lombardo out for 43 days

43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pontedera lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Davide Guglielmotti 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 Pontedera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Louis Buffon was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 21. 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.

Match

Pontedera find a way past Torres

Torres made Pontedera work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Boardroom

$1.1M on the table at Pontedera

The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Philip Yeboah

7.92, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Pontedera had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

Transfer targets

Pontedera ask about Andrea Santarcangelo

A loan enquiry to Casarano: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Riyad Idrissi is in the works

Pontedera have made the call to Cagliari. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Transfer targets

Pontedera try to borrow Nesta Elphege

Parma 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.

In brief

20 Edition

The Pontedera Courier

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Louis Buffon beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Tempers go at Pontedera

Davide Guglielmotti 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Juan Manuel Iurino

“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.

Match

Pontedera caught on 94 minutes

The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Pineto scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.

Player ratings

Philip Yeboah takes the honours

Marked 7.79 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Pontedera had the best player on the pitch.

Match

Pontedera share the spoils with Pineto

A 1‑1 draw with Pineto leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

Arturo Ventura: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

Squad

Words at Pontedera training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Lugano 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 dugout

No place in the plan for Juan Manuel Iurino

The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

In brief

17 Edition

The Pontedera Courier

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

24 days out for Francesco Gorrasi after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pontedera will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

The dugout

Andrea Caponi keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pontedera may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Davide Guglielmotti

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

The wait goes on for Pontedera

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Pontedera

Davide Guglielmotti 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.

Player ratings

Pablo Vitali in the eights

A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Match

Honours even between Pontedera and Ravenna

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

Arturo Ventura on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Arturo Ventura after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

The dugout

Luca Piana 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 Pontedera, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

14 Edition

The Pontedera Courier

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Louis Buffon

Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A fracture rules Elvi Ceka out for 21 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pontedera will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

A falling-out at Pontedera

Davide Guglielmotti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

No hiding place for Juan Manuel Iurino

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Manuel Iurino, and the manager let it.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Davide Guglielmotti

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Davide Guglielmotti has come out of that comparison in the side, and Pontedera have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

The dugout

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.” Arturo Ventura chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

Squad

A row about effort at Pontedera

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Lugano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Umberto Saracco has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Pontedera 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.

The dugout

Juan Manuel Iurino left out for tactical reasons at Pontedera

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.

In brief

11 Edition

The Pontedera Courier

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Pablo Vitali beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

Davide Guglielmotti goes up and wins it — 7.92

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 7.92 for the rest of it.

Squad

Davide Guglielmotti 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 Pontedera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Umberto Saracco signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Umberto Saracco commits to Pontedera for another 2 years.

Player ratings

Matteo Manfredonia ran the middle of the pitch — 7.43

He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 7.43, and not one of them will make a highlights package.

The terraces

One of their own: Matteo Manfredonia

He is 22 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.

Match

Philip Yeboah the difference as Pontedera beat Pianese

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Philip Yeboah. 2‑0 against Pianese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Seid Korać

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pontedera told Seid Korać something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

The dugout

Arturo Ventura has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Arturo Ventura on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

8 Edition

The Pontedera Courier

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Pablo Vitali was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 30. 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Pontedera

Davide Guglielmotti 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.

Match

Pontedera see off Arezzo

Three points for Pontedera, 1‑0 the final word against Arezzo in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

Philip Yeboah stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.59 on the card, and the Pontedera support went home talking about one name.

The dugout

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.” Arturo Ventura, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

Squad

Thiago Lugano 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.

Squad

Louis Buffon is the weekend's best young player

At 18 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.

The dugout

No place in the plan for Juan Manuel Iurino

The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

Looking ahead

Daniel Leo goes back to face Perugia

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Daniel Leo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Pontedera needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

3 Edition

The Pontedera Courier

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Pontedera

Herculano Nabian and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Empoli tell Pontedera: Cristian Cauz is not for sale

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.

Transfer targets

Pontedera ask about Edoardo Pieragnolo

A loan enquiry to Sassuolo: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief