Mateo Natale

Central Midfielder - Defensores
7 Mar 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for Mateo Natale

31 Edition

The Defensores Post

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Maximiliano Jofre puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Defensores, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Franco Caro says Defensores 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

Patricio Moyano 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 Defensores this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Defensores

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

The terraces

Defensores supporters have found a favourite in Mateo Natale

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mateo Natale 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.

Match

Enzo González sends Defensores past Mitre

It finished 1‑0, and it was Enzo González’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Defensores.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Raúl Torres

“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.

Player ratings

Enzo González was the difference for Defensores

Marked 7.93. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 98% of the Defensores income

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.

In brief

Back issues
4 Edition

The Defensores Post

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Ezequiel Aguirre leads the rout of Agropecuario Argentino

4‑0, and Ezequiel Aguirre took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Defensores tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Match

Defensores bow out of the cup

Central Córdoba SdE go through and Defensores go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Player ratings

A brace, and Ezequiel Aguirre takes the afternoon — 8.44

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ezequiel Aguirre provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Nicolás Nocetti turns Modena down

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Defensores

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

Squad

Words at Defensores training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Benítez 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 ratings

One of those days for Joaquín Ardaiz

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

Diego García 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 ratings

Mateo Natale runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief