Marked for César Martínez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Leon
Fernando Beltrán 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 May 2027
A row about effort at Leon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismael Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 May 2027
The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for César Martínez, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout24 May 2027
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.
Market24 May 2027
Ismael Díaz linked with a move away
The name of Ismael Díaz keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Leon say nothing, which says plenty.
Loan watch24 May 2027
32 appearances away from home and 3 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout24 May 2027
Édgar Guerra knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Édgar Guerra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout24 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Luis Cervantes has written the date down.
Loan watch24 May 2027
12 appearances away from home and 2 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emi Rodriguez and Leon agree another 4 years.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Leon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Domínguez 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
62 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad26 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bryan Colula, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Bryan Colula gets picked when it counts
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 Bryan Colula is on it.
Market26 Apr 2027
Ismael Díaz linked with a move away
The name of Ismael Díaz keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Leon say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Emi Rodriguez 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 Leon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Jan 2027
After 18 games, Leon finally taste it again
The first defeat in 18 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Pumas UNAM; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Match6 Jan 2027
Leon march on in the cup
Monterrey are out and Leon go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market11 Jan 2027
Pumas UNAM come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Leon did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
César Martínez is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Leon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Domínguez 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Leon asked and Guadalajara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
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.
Match9 Jan 2027
A bad afternoon for Leon against Pumas UNAM
0‑1 to Pumas UNAM, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.