It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Guille Perero 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.
Derby days make names, and Oihan Sancet made his against Real Sociedad. 1‑0, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Athletic Bilbao support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
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.
“I did not go to Guadalajara to sit and watch. I want to come back to Athletic Bilbao and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
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.
Javi Gómez 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jesús Sierra after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cadete 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.
Beaten 4 times, with 3 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The dugoutIan Aliaga asks for a word with the manager
Javi Gómez 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.
Barakaldo held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Guadalajara answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cadete was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Guadalajara will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Celta Fortuna? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Villarreal keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Guadalajara asked and Antequera said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
David Medina 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.
Guadalajara had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Real Madrid, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
A loan enquiry to Athletic Bilbao: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cadete 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.
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.