Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
Emanuel Reynoso 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.74, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad24 Sep 2029
13 new faces, and Talleres are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Franco Moyano 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Martín Alonso after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Talleres lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Vélez go through and Talleres go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Talleres have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Laureano Martínez 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.
Bruno Barticciotto 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.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Talleres lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Talleres people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Defensa y Justicia 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$510.0K was the most the club would pay and San Lorenzo 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Talleres have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Suárez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Talleres the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandro Maidana 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Talleres, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The offer from Boca Juniors for Bruno Barticciotto 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Torres will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Talleres the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Gimnasia La Plata have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Daniel Ribera. The answer from Talleres has not changed — yet.
Franco Moyano 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Valentín Dávila is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
0‑0, and a season that ran to May has ended inside a fortnight. This is what a playoff is: nine months of work settled by a couple of evenings, and nobody who designed it was thinking about the losing dressing room.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres 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 Kevin Mantilla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Emanuel Reynoso 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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 easiest signature of my career.” Gianluca Garavaglia and Talleres agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Valentín Dávila is on it.
Squad21 May 2029
The division's best last weekend was a Talleres man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Bruno Barticciotto was the best thing in any of them.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Federico Fattori 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bruno Barticciotto. 3‑1 against San Lorenzo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Talleres has been clear about where Marcos Portillo stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Diego Barrera
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Emanuel Reynoso 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Talleres know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Marcos Portillo is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Independiente Rivadavia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joaquín Mosqueira and Talleres agree another 5 years.
Emanuel Reynoso 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Martín Alonso after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bruno Barticciotto 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 Jan 2029
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Mosqueira 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bruno Barticciotto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Valentín Dávila is on it.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Talleres, another week without a signature from Mateo Cáceres.
The offer from Ludogorets for Bruno Barticciotto 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Talleres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Emiliano López 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Agustín Ruiz 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bruno Barticciotto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The deal that would have taken Luis Sequeira to Central Córdoba SdE has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Talleres with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Talleres, another week without a signature from Valentín Dávila.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Talleres have done the hard part with Newell's Old Boys, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
River Plate paid $2.6M and Talleres took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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.
Emanuel Reynoso 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Talleres, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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.
Emanuel Reynoso 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.
Nobody at Talleres 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Position 3, 23 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking 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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Torres will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Talleres the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Matías Galarza 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Martín Alonso on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matías Galarza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Talleres the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ulises Ortegoza is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.57 — 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.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Talleres has been clear about where Juan Orellana stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Martín Alonso on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Talleres will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 6.92, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Martín Alonso after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matías Galarza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Talleres the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Emanuel Reynoso commits to Talleres for another 2 years.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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.
Emanuel Reynoso 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Galarza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Talleres, another week without a signature from Valentín Dávila.
A 2‑0 win over Newell's Old Boys, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rosario Central waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Talleres is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Matías Galarza 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Valentín Dávila 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.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
The first defeat in 11 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Vélez; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Talleres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Emanuel Reynoso 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rosario Central waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Talleres is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Atlético Tucumán have accepted the money. What Talleres do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Talleres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Franco Moyano 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Talleres have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Talleres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Talleres have gone to Unión de Santa Fe 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 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 name of Jeremías Florentín has come up in conversations Talleres were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The offer from Austria Wien for Bruno Barticciotto 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Talleres have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everyone has stopped pretending: San Lorenzo will make the call about Matías Galarza this week. Talleres have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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.
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Talleres and San Martín, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Barticciotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Emanuel Reynoso 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.
Emanuel Reynoso 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Martín Alonso after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Estudiantes? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan Cruz Giacone trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Diego Barrera’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Talleres needing him to play as if none of it matters.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Talleres lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Talleres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Santino Barbi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Barticciotto 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Talleres, another week without a signature from Santino Barbi.