Marked for Máximo Gándara
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at San Lorenzo
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at San Lorenzo is running low.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Ezequiel Escobar has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at San Lorenzo can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market4 Jan 2027
River Plate come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and San Lorenzo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market4 Jan 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Danubio moved on, Ezequiel Herrera reports back to San Lorenzo, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad4 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Mauro Casoli gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mauro Casoli has just signed for San Lorenzo, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nahuel Romero is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Perruzzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Fabricio Da Rosa 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Alexis Cuello 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 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Tripichio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cristian Gallardo and San Lorenzo agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Pakhtakor to sit and watch. I want to come back to San Lorenzo and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 16 matches say the rest.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Uriel Ojeda: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one San Lorenzo will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valentino Bossio, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Matías Reali 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
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Pakhtakor
Bashar Resan 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 152% of the Pakhtakor income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Pakhtakor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flamarion was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Morteza Pouraliganji, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pakhtakor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Pakhtakor. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market30 Nov 2026
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Pakhtakor could get for him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Máximo Gándara is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” San Lorenzo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market23 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Lorenzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Alexis Cuello 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Del Prete was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“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 San Lorenzo, and 4 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout23 Nov 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexis Cuello’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Manuel Insaurralde trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match19 Sep 2026
After 9 games, Pakhtakor finally taste it again
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Neftchi; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pakhtakor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Sep 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Stefan Đorđević
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Aziz Turg'unboyev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Pakhtakor needing him to play as if none of it matters.