Marked for Víctor Barrera
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Maipú
Aron Agüero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Maipú
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luciano Arnijas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luciano Arnijas, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Diego Gaitán asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market18 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Julián Vera’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager makes Tomás Silva a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Maipú. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Facundo Muñóz out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maipú will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market30 Nov 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Maipú
Juan Pablo Gobetto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 179% of everything Maipú earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Juan Castro
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Maipú training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Heiz 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Joaquín Correa 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 Maipú, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market30 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lisandro Cabrera’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.