Marked for Marco Bertoli
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market6 Sep 2027
Lukas Sinn 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 Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Sep 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Marco Armellino 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.
Match4 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lorenzo Mazza and Ospitaletto agree another 4 years.
Market6 Sep 2027
He is 19, and nobody at Ospitaletto signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market6 Sep 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with David Valero’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Aug 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Aug 2027
0‑2 to Virtus Verona, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Marco Bertoli
“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 ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Lukas Sinn knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ospitaletto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Aug 2027
35 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market9 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 Ospitaletto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Marco Armellino 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Romano Baldini has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ospitaletto
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market7 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ospitaletto have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad7 Jun 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Jun 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Kike Gómez may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Ospitaletto pull $42.3K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Market7 Jun 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Guille Donoso signs something — a contract at Ospitaletto or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Ospitaletto says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Giacomo Maucci knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giacomo Maucci trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad10 May 2027
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
No place for Kike Gómez on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Ospitaletto pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Squad10 May 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Mateo Scheffer
5 goals and a season average of 7.21 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Apr 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 Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Apr 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ospitaletto they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Mattia Guarneri: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ospitaletto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Kike Gómez 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Marked 7.77 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ospitaletto had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Apr 2027
Every point is an argument now for Ospitaletto
Position 18 and 31 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Apr 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
87 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Kike Gómez gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
A performance of 8.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
Umberto Galletta 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 ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Guille Donoso, and the manager let it.
Match10 Apr 2027
AlbinoLeffe left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Apr 2027
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Mbarick Fall, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad12 Apr 2027
5 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market5 Apr 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.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A season average of 7.08 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Ospitaletto know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad5 Apr 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Marked 8.67 — 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcello Possenti, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ospitaletto they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Umberto Galletta 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 ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match27 Mar 2027
Marco Bertoli scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Trento, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Kike Gómez left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Kike Gómez will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Mar 2027
Every point is an argument now for Ospitaletto
Position 17 and 27 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad22 Mar 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.81 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Riccardo Nessi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Wages eat 94% of everything Ospitaletto earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match20 Mar 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Claudio Messaggi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Shots: 6. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Luca Sonzogni 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 ratings15 Mar 2027
A performance of 9.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match13 Mar 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Bertoli. 2‑1 against Alcione Milano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Marked 8.60 — 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 ratings15 Mar 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A season average of 7.21 with 5 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match27 Feb 2027
10 matches without a win for Ospitaletto
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Ospitaletto are no longer polite ones.
Market1 Mar 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ospitaletto they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Umberto Galletta 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 ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
The one thing Marco Bertoli could not do
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Match27 Feb 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Union Brescia came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Feb 2027
9 matches without a win for Ospitaletto
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Ospitaletto are no longer polite ones.
Match22 Feb 2027
Ospitaletto are in real trouble now
Position 17, 21 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market22 Feb 2027
Lukas Sinn 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 Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Feb 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Lumezzane left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
109% of the income goes out in wages at Ospitaletto
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Shots: 6. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Feb 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Ospitaletto's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ospitaletto has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Umberto Galletta 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Vicenza left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Marked 8.52 — 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Feb 2027
7 matches without a win for Ospitaletto
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Ospitaletto are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 Feb 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.05, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Kike Gómez gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match6 Feb 2027
Point won or two lost for Ospitaletto?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Lecco? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ospitaletto they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match30 Jan 2027
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Feb 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.96, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“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.
Match30 Jan 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Pro Patria leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ospitaletto would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Ospitaletto
Position 17 and 19 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market25 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Alessandro Torri: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ospitaletto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Guille Donoso 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages eat 132% of everything Ospitaletto earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.89 on the card, and the Ospitaletto support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market11 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Claudio Messaggi again, and this time the name on the line is Latina. Ospitaletto are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 21, Umberto Galletta is already the best thing here
An average of 7.02 in a first team he is several years too young for. Ospitaletto have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad11 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Jan 2027
Virtus Verona left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kike Gómez, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Guille Donoso knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ospitaletto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Shots: 10. 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The David Valero story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Valero signs something — a contract at Ospitaletto or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Dec 2026
16 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market28 Dec 2026
“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 Ospitaletto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Mattia Guarneri: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ospitaletto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 2026
David Valero 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
221% of the income goes out in wages at Ospitaletto
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Eric Puerto 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matteo Gualandris, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
David Valero 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Ospitaletto did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Marked 9.37 — 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
A 3‑1 win over Novara, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.77, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Kike Gómez
“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 ratings14 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Dec 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Luca Sonzogni knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Dec 2026
17 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Luca Sonzogni 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 ratings7 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.93 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Guille Donoso, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Marcello Possenti is 34, with 10 appearances behind him, and Ospitaletto will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Nov 2026
16 matches without a win for Ospitaletto
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Ospitaletto are no longer polite ones.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Francesco Gobbi: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ospitaletto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Lukas Sinn 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 248% of everything Ospitaletto earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.62 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Luca Sonzogni lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Match28 Nov 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Nov 2026
15 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market23 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 31 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
David Valero 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
The one thing Marco Bertoli could not do
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Nov 2026
14 matches without a win for Ospitaletto
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around Ospitaletto are no longer polite ones.
Market16 Nov 2026
“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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 29 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad16 Nov 2026
David Valero 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Claudio Messaggi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match14 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Trento will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
13 matches without a win for Ospitaletto
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Ospitaletto are no longer polite ones.
Match4 Nov 2026
Juventus go through and Ospitaletto go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match9 Nov 2026
Ospitaletto are in real trouble now
Position 18, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad9 Nov 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Lukas Sinn 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kike Gómez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 8.27 — 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Giana Erminio leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Ospitaletto's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ospitaletto has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
David Valero 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 248% of everything Ospitaletto earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Sonzogni, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Ospitaletto
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Ospitaletto are no longer polite ones.
Market26 Oct 2026
“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 Ospitaletto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Oct 2026
David Valero 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 13, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Oct 2026
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
David Valero 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.99, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Marco Bertoli
“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.
Match10 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Lumezzane leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad12 Oct 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Ospitaletto have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
The one thing Marco Bertoli could not do
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 5.68, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Oct 2026
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
David Valero 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
376% of the income goes out in wages at Ospitaletto
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Kike Gómez gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.56, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match3 Oct 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Eric Puerto is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Eric Puerto: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match23 Sep 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Samuele Sina obliged against Reggiana. 2‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Ospitaletto.
Market28 Sep 2026
“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 Ospitaletto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match26 Sep 2026
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Lukas Sinn 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuele Regazzetti, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.40 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Kike 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mattia Ievoli, and the manager let it.
Match12 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Triestina defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ospitaletto would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
19 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 267% of everything Ospitaletto earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Kike Gómez gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Eric Puerto 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Ospitaletto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Bertoli, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 14, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match29 Aug 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Virtus Verona came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Every debut is a small story about the future: Umberto Galletta, 20 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
The one thing Marco Bertoli could not do
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marco Bertoli and Ospitaletto agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Gabriele Mondini 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.