The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hugo Burcio did not need any: 7.72, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Celta Fortuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Martín Méndez after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Celta Fortuna have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Izan Server is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Ángel Arcos 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.
0‑1 to Ourense CF, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Pablo Meixús 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 Celta Fortuna will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Unionistas had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Celta Fortuna did not stop to explain themselves.
At 23 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.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Celta Fortuna who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Marcos González has come out of that comparison in the side, and Celta Fortuna have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Hugo Burcio 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Celta Fortuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Meixús 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
At 19 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Cacereño? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Izan Server is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
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.
Ángel Arcos 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marcos González is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Meixús was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Pablo Gavián trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Caio Barone
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Andrés Antañón did not need any: 7.72, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Andrés Antañón 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Arenas Club scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
At 19 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Pablo Meixús
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Celta Fortuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑1 to Guadalajara, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Celta Fortuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Meixús 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.
Ángel Arcos has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
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.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Celta Fortuna was different afterwards.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Celta Fortuna can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Meixús was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Celta Fortuna will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Ángel Arcos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Celta Fortuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Meixús 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 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.