Marked for Ale Gomes
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Zaragoza
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Zaragoza are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Zaragoza
Toni Moya and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match31 Oct 2026
Zaragoza cannot find the net
4 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Racing Santander left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market2 Nov 2026
No place for Raúl Guti in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Raúl Guti has his answer from Zaragoza; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonel Miranda, and the manager let it.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every Zaragoza game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cádiz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
Cádiz taken apart
0‑3 to Leganés, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad19 Oct 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Cádiz
Bojan Kovačević 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 Oct 2026
Ale Gomes is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Damián 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Cádiz dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Zaragoza
6 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Sebas 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Zaragoza
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Toni Moya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match3 Oct 2026
Dani Gómez scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Málaga, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonel Miranda, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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; Zaragoza are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“I watch every Zaragoza game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cádiz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Cádiz
Bojan Kovačević 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The step up is real for Ale Gomes
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Damián 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Urko Izeta’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Cádiz.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.47 — 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.39 — 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Federico Marcucci and Cádiz agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Cádiz have gone to Albacete 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The paperwork begins on Ale Gomes
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Cádiz have done the hard part with Zaragoza, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Cádiz had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at River Plate, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Cádiz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Damián was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Cádiz
Andrés Vombergar 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 terraces24 Aug 2026
Cádiz supporters have found a favourite in Damián
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Damián 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Damián was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.