Marked for Facundo Sanchez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ivo Chaves 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Gimnasia y Tiro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Birge 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
Nicolás Contín 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Rubén Villarreal has moved up it.
Looking ahead1 Feb 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nicolás Rinaldi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gimnasia y Tiro needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Juan Turletti had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gimnasia y Tiro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Gimnasia y Tiro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ivo Chaves 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Manuel Guanini 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
Tiago Banega 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 Gimnasia y Tiro, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Adolfo Tallura
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gimnasia y Tiro lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
Supporters organise against the Gimnasia y Tiro board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Gimnasia y Tiro
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market7 Dec 2026
“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 Gimnasia y Tiro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ivo Chaves 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Matías Birge 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Manuel Guanini has his answer from Gimnasia y Tiro; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Matías Birge gets it from the manager
“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
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicolás Rinaldi
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gimnasia y Tiro lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Rubén Villarreal out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gimnasia y Tiro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market9 Nov 2026
“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 Gimnasia y Tiro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market9 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gimnasia y Tiro is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ivo Chaves 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Gimnasia y Tiro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Birge 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Matías Birge
“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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Juan Rocca 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 Gimnasia y Tiro, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market9 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Gimnasia y Tiro, another week without a signature from Juan Ignacio Capano.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gimnasia y Tiro is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Juan Turletti again, and this time the name on the line is Pontedera. Gimnasia y Tiro are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Franco Sivetti 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ivo Chaves 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑2 to Racing, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Matías Birge 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
Matías Birge gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 39 days on the sidelines for Benicio Godoy, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.