Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sabadell can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Sabadell heard it as anything else.
Javi López-Pinto 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 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.
Add another name to the list: Guadalajara have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jordi Ortega. The answer from Sabadell has not changed — yet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iker Recio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
In brief
The dugoutMarcos Gaona has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Genar Fornés
The fee is $2.1M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Granada drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $710.0K has been paid because Kike Barja is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Sabadell paid $610.0K and Real Murcia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Real Murcia
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Barcelona have kept their man, and Real Murcia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léo Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sabadell have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Sabadell, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sabadell moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Oihan Álvarez, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Cristóbal has agreed terms with Leganés for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Javi López-Pinto 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.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Sabadell
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Mateo Quesada from Real Murcia for $610.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
In brief
SquadWords at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sabadell waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Real Murcia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Real Murcia have paid $5.0M for Jovanny Bolívar, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
He is going to Racing Santander, the club has $3.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Racing Santander pay $3.4M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Independiente is saying, and nobody at Real Murcia is enjoying the guessing.
Mario Soriano 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Jovanny Bolívar from Albacete for $5.0M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sabadell will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sabadell people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sabadell they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sabadell have done the hard part with Real Murcia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The chase for Louis Jackson ended with $940.0K changing hands and Juventud Torremolinos out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Diego Llorente 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.
Sabadell have gone to Antequera 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.
The terraces13 Aug 2029
Sabadell spend $940.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $940.0K for Louis Jackson, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Sabadell training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Malvacio 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Murcia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Jordi Alba 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Real Murcia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Gomes 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.
Real Murcia have made the call to Ferrocarril Midland. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Real Murcia will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
In brief
The dugoutJoaquín Bassani is still being punished for one mistake
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Murcia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Real Murcia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Ponferradina, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
$490.0K on the table at Espanyol. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Mario Soriano 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Real Murcia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Gomes 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Real Murcia can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Mario Soriano 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
David Flakus 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Cristo Romero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Real Murcia has been clear about where Mateo Quesada stands, which is more than many ever get.
40 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Real Murcia will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“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 Real Murcia, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Murcia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Mario Soriano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Léo Gomes 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.
Marked 8.12 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
4‑1, and Mario Soriano took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Real Murcia tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
A brace, and Mario Soriano takes the afternoon — 8.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mario Soriano provided it, and the 8.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Real Murcia heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Flakus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Real Murcia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alcorcón runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 Alcorcón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mouctar Diakhaby and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Pol Domingo 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.
He is 23 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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Alcorcón dressing room in a hurry
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Jordi Alba 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
BoardroomReal Murcia bank $130.0K from an old deal
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Matías Noble's mistake
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Murcia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Flakus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Real Murcia, and 2 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
Matías Noble 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Real Murcia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Joel Valdemarín has his answer from Real Murcia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Flakus signs something — a contract at Real Murcia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Real Murcia. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Jon García is still in the building
Real Murcia and Almería have settled on $12.9M. 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.
Real Murcia have gone to Athletic Bilbao 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $4.3M — a club that wants Aritz Aldasoro enough to be asked twice.
The deal with Osasuna is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Villarreal have kept their man, and Real Murcia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I did not go to Alcorcón to sit and watch. I want to come back to Real Murcia and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Matías Noble'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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Murcia can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Pedro Benito has come up in conversations Real Murcia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Real Murcia asked and Avellino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I watch every Real Murcia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alcorcón runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
100 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alcorcón lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
$4.0M was the most the club would pay and Getafe were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Alcorcón heard it as anything else.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Alcorcón have done the hard part with Real Murcia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Mouctar Diakhaby 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.
$210.0K on the table at Teruel. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Pol Domingo 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Joaquín Leites has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Alcorcón have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Barcelona waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Real Murcia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Add another name to the list: Cacereño have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Diego Piñeiro. The answer from Real Murcia has not changed — yet.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Real Murcia have done the hard part with Real Sociedad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Léo Gomes 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Real Murcia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Mateo Quesada 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Real Murcia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Murcia can pretend not to have heard.
Léo Gomes 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 39 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Real Murcia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar El Hilali 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Randy Nteka signs something — a contract at Real Murcia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Murcia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Murcia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Real Murcia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Real Murcia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jordi Alba 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 first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Villarreal B; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
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.
“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 dugout17 Apr 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 Raúl Sierra to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
Player ratingsCristo Romero beats them one at a time
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Murcia can pretend not to have heard.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Jordi Alba 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Real Murcia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar El Hilali 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Nobody at Real Murcia 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.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Real Murcia could ask drops and the wages Martín Aguirregabiria can ask rise.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Real Murcia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
A brace, and Randy Nteka takes the afternoon — 8.81
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Randy Nteka provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Real Murcia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fraser Forster 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar El Hilali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Matías Noble.
Tarazona will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Real Murcia were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Murcia can pretend not to have heard.
3 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.
Omar El Hilali 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Real Murcia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arsen Zakharyan 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Raúl Sierra could afford to be generous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Murcia can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Murcia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑1 win over Atlético Madrileño, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.85 on the card, and the Real Murcia support went home talking about one name.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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.” Raúl Sierra, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Real Murcia close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Murcia 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alavés have kept their man, and Real Murcia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Real Murcia, and 6 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arsen Zakharyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Real Murcia asked and Atlético Madrid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mateo Quesada, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Raúl Sierra was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Real Murcia dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Ceuta defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Real Murcia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Real Murcia, and it is not being withdrawn.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Real Murcia have had the benefit of it.
Léo Gomes 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Real Murcia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar El Hilali 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.
Real Murcia asked and Ibiza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Real Murcia have made the call to Atlético Madrid. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Murcia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Murcia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Real Murcia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Something was said to Franco Zicarelli and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Raúl Sierra after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Jordi Alba 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Real Murcia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar El Hilali 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 is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mateo Quesada 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.
“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 Nov 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.” Raúl Sierra, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.