Marked for Brayan Boci
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Jun 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Union Brescia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Empoli have kept their man, and Union Brescia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Union Brescia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Genoa, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market19 Jun 2028
The fee is $190.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Salernitana drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Juan Ignacio Molina is living that version at Union Brescia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Filippo Vesentini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A loan move for Alisson Santos is in the works
Union Brescia have made the call to Inter. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A loan move for Kevin Zeroli is in the works
Union Brescia have made the call to AC Milan. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Brayan Boci
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Apr 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Union Brescia can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
7.70, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Match22 Apr 2028
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Mantova were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Mauro Schönfeld 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.
Match22 Apr 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrea Rizzo Pinna. 2‑0 against Mantova, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Union Brescia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Ninety minutes of Alieu Njie at his very best
Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Union Brescia.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
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.” Mariano Lombardi, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Brayan Boci 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Mar 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Union Brescia can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
A defender's goal wins it for Union Brescia — 7.34
1 for Andrea Rizzo Pinna, marked 7.34, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Eivind Helland and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefano Gori, and the manager let it.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Alieu Njie beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match11 Mar 2028
A 2‑2 draw with Modena leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mariano Lombardi after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Feb 2028
“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 Union Brescia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Tiago Casasola 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.
The terraces21 Feb 2028
The crowd has taken to Alieu Njie
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match19 Feb 2028
It finished 2‑0, and it was Alberto Spagnoli’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Union Brescia.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Union Brescia know it.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Something was said to Mauro Schönfeld and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.65 on the card, and the Union Brescia support went home talking about one name.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mariano Lombardi on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Dec 2027
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Union Brescia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match11 Dec 2027
1‑4 to Palermo, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Brayan Boci: 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.” Union Brescia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Davide Di Molfetta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Mercati, and the manager let it.
Boardroom13 Dec 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Alberto Spagnoli asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Union Brescia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Tiago Casasola 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 dugout15 Nov 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.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Something was said to Luca Vido and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Davide Di Molfetta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Filippo Vesentini has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Union Brescia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market15 Nov 2027
The Stefano Gori talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Union Brescia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Union Brescia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“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 Union Brescia will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Jun 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Jun 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 Union Brescia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
$480.0K settles it between the clubs for Nicolò Armini
Crotone have accepted the money. What Union Brescia do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lazio have kept their man, and Union Brescia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brayan Boci and Union Brescia agree another 4 years.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Davide Di Molfetta, and the manager let it.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Union Brescia have made the call to Cagliari. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Andrea Rizzo Pinna's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 May 2027
62 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Squad3 May 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Union Brescia will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market3 May 2027
26 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Union Brescia now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Squad3 May 2027
Davide Guglielmotti 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 dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Nicola Pasini
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Davide Balestrero
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Davide Balestrero has come out of that comparison in the side, and Union Brescia have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Jan 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Union Brescia have 4 straight wins of it.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Union Brescia have done the hard part with Sassuolo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Union Brescia asked and Torino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match23 Jan 2027
Three points for Union Brescia, 1‑0 the final word against Renate in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad25 Jan 2027
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Marked 8.03 — 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luigi Silvestri, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Mariano Lombardi kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.