Marked for Iván Espinosa
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Feb 2036
A 0‑3 beating by Real Sociedad was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Iván Espinosa breaks a bone — 14 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Feb 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlético Madrid is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2036
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Atlético Madrid will try again when the window opens; Ponferradina may not be selling by then.
Market11 Feb 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Atlético Madrid, another week without a signature from Luka Sučić.
Player ratings11 Feb 2036
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Words at Atlético Madrid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vid Novak 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.
Boardroom11 Feb 2036
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.
The dugout11 Feb 2036
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Feb 2036
A fracture rules Iván Espinosa out for 21 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlético Madrid will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2036
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Atlético Madrid will try again when the window opens; Celta may not be selling by then.
Match2 Feb 2036
Atlético Madrid make home a hard place to visit
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Market4 Feb 2036
The bid was some way short and Atlético Madrid did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market4 Feb 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlético Madrid is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market4 Feb 2036
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Player ratings4 Feb 2036
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.92, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market4 Feb 2036
Villarreal pay $180.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jan 2036
Dani Martín is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Dani Martín: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match22 Jan 2036
Ponferradina are out and Atlético Madrid go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad28 Jan 2036
A fracture rules Iván Espinosa out for 28 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlético Madrid will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Jan 2036
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market28 Jan 2036
“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.
Match26 Jan 2036
Atlético Madrid make home a hard place to visit
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The dugout28 Jan 2036
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match26 Jan 2036
0‑1 to Sevilla, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Words at Atlético Madrid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Rivera 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Jan 2036
The bid was some way short and Atlético Madrid did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market21 Jan 2036
Terms done: Hugo Souza is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Huesca waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Atlético Madrid is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Iván Espinosa breaks a bone — 35 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market21 Jan 2036
Leonardo Bovio has left for Real Sociedad in a $9.2M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market21 Jan 2036
Carlos Vázquez has left for Betis in a $2.5M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets21 Jan 2036
The offer went to Betis this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Match19 Jan 2036
Atlético Madrid make home a hard place to visit
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Boardroom21 Jan 2036
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $859.2K — a club that wants Pablo Ferreira enough to be asked twice.
Match19 Jan 2036
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Jan 2036
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Atlético Madrid have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match12 Jan 2036
Ceuta will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Atlético Madrid were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2036
Atlético Madrid offered $16.1M; Estudiantes said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad14 Jan 2036
A fracture rules Iván Espinosa out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlético Madrid will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market14 Jan 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlético Madrid can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
Carlos Martín, 33, rolls back the years — 8.20
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.20 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market14 Jan 2036
The fee is $2.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Athletic Bilbao drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.