Marked for Mateo Rodríguez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Ramón Ábila in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match18 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch20 Sep 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Estudiantes, and 6 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Estudiantes, and it is a cruel one.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Talpone, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Mauro Valiente 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Aug 2027
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.
Market16 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at Estudiantes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match14 Aug 2027
Still nobody has beaten Estudiantes
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Ramón Ábila 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Gabriel Alanís
“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.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Marked 8.46 — 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 ratings16 Aug 2027
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch16 Aug 2027
“I watch every Estudiantes game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Neftchi runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Jul 2027
Sergio Ojeda hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Jul 2027
The deal that would have taken Francisco Galván to Maipú has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Estudiantes with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad5 Jul 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 Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fernando Bersano, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Estudiantes release $2.4M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Marked 7.75 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Estudiantes had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mateo Rodríguez and Estudiantes agree another 4 years.
Match3 Jul 2027
It needed Ramón Ábila to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Central Norte, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Gabriel Alanís 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Sergio Ojeda 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
It is over: Estudiantes are relegated
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Market4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Gabriel Alanís 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Estudiantes will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 2027
18 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Uriel Iehara commits to Estudiantes for another 3 years.