Marked for Thomas Schirò
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 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 Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Georgi Tunjov 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.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tommy Maistrello, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 May 2027
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.
Squad24 May 2027
A rating of 6.76 was enough for the selectors, and nobody who watched the match is going to argue with them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Mar 2027
Cesare Pogliano 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Georgi Tunjov falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match13 Mar 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Georgi Tunjov. 2‑0 against Virtus Verona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
The afternoon belonged to King Udoh
A mark of 7.89, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Vincenzo De Santis could afford to be generous.
The dugout15 Mar 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tommy Maistrello and Pro Patria agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Tommy Maistrello 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Pietro Reggiori named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Pietro Reggiori is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vincenzo De Santis after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paolo Cannistrà 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Point won or two lost for Pro Patria?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Pergolettese? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
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 dugout8 Mar 2027
No place in the plan for Andrea Sala
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Pro Patria have had the benefit of it.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.85, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tommy Maistrello and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
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.
Match2 Jan 2027
A 2‑1 win over Alcione Milano, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Vincenzo De Santis, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad4 Jan 2027
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Pro Patria will feel it on Saturday.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Elton Dodaj has moved up it.
Market4 Jan 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tommaso Ricordi has his answer from Pro Patria; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 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 Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Pro Patria
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgi Tunjov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 160% of everything Pro Patria 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Di Munno, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Alessandro Orfei is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Vincenzo De Santis was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Pro Patria dressing room was either.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Davide Ferri 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 Pro Patria, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Davide Ferri has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gregorio Angelè
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Sep 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Ospitaletto, and it could have been more.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Alessandro Orfei takes the afternoon — 8.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alessandro Orfei provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tommy Maistrello 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Vincenzo De Santis, on a 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tommaso Aliata, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Gregorio Angelè damages knee ligaments — 32 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The step up is real for Ryan Gnonto
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Pro Patria
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Georgi Tunjov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mario Rossetti has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad14 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 Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Alessandro Di Munno
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.20 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Pro Patria had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mattia Motolese, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vincenzo De Santis after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tommy Maistrello and Pro Patria agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 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 Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Georgi Tunjov falls out with a teammate over standards
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.