The Santos Chronicle
Boardroom22 May 2028
Santos give the job to Guilherme Barbosa
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Squad22 May 2028
Roberto Nardo damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match17 May 2028
Santos out of the cup
Santa Cruz ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad22 May 2028
Tempers go at Santos
Zé Rafael 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.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Nobody could get near Álvaro Barreal
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match20 May 2028
Santos get the job done against Vitória
A 1‑0 win over Vitória, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Santos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rony 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.
Boardroom22 May 2028
Inquest at Santos
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Player ratings22 May 2028
The afternoon belonged to Kristian Strømland Lien
7.80, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Santos had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
In brief
- Squad Neymar is playing like a man with something to prove
- Player ratings Lucas Veríssimo shuts the door
- Player ratings A day to forget for Dyllan Bustamante