19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Penafiel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.55 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aurélio Buta 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.
“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 Penafiel know it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Penafiel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Penafiel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Penafiel can pretend not to have heard.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Penafiel has been clear about where Daniel Semedo stands, which is more than many ever get.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alexey Perestov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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 Penafiel know it.
At 23 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.77 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.25 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Diogo Fernandes is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Penafiel and Torreense, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Penafiel
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Tiago Gouveia 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aurélio Buta 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.
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.
Shots: 9. 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.
Flávio Gonçalves 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Penafiel training over how hard people work
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Davo and Penafiel agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Aurélio Buta 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. André Miranda did not need any: 9.03, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Aurélio Buta 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Flávio Gonçalves. 2‑1 against Leixões, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Flávio Gonçalves has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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 words a physio says slowly. 61 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Aurélio Buta 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.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Diogo Fernandes: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The words a physio says slowly. 78 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.
Tiago Gouveia 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Zé Carlos 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.
7.82, 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.
Tiago Gouveia 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 Nov 2027
Zé Carlos 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aurélio Buta signs something — a contract at Penafiel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
Player ratingsBryan Róchez could not find anything
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.
Rui Pedro 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zé Carlos 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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Penafiel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Flávio Gonçalves 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aurélio Buta 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rui Pedro. 3‑1 against Torreense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.12 — 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aurélio Buta signs something — a contract at Penafiel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.
The fee is $1.5M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Vizela drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Penafiel and Académico de Viseu in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aurélio Buta 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Max Svensson has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Flávio Gonçalves did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Penafiel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Martim Almeida is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Meireles Injai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Penafiel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Aurélio Buta 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.
Tiago Ribeiro 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Raúl Alcaina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aurélio Buta 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zé Carlos 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Penafiel, another week without a signature from Ricardo Schutte.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Penafiel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Joan Femenías 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aurélio Buta 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Penafiel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A brace, and Bryan Róchez takes the afternoon — 8.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bryan Róchez provided it, and the 8.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Meireles Injai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Penafiel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Aurélio Buta 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 goal that put Lusitânia Lourosa ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Penafiel equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 27 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Aurélio Buta 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.
11 goals in 23 games at Chaves — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Penafiel updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Aurélio Buta'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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Penafiel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ricardo Schutte will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Penafiel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Penafiel can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Penafiel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aurélio Buta 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bryan Róchez. 2‑1 against Porto B, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Penafiel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ricardo Schutte has agreed terms with Famalicao for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zé Carlos 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.
Tiago Ribeiro 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Max Svensson has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Joan Femenías 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aurélio Buta 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.
“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 ratings18 Jan 2027
Aurélio Buta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The offer from Vitoria Guimaraes for Max Svensson was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Rui Pedro 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Aurélio Buta 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.
“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 ratings11 Jan 2027
Davo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Aurélio Buta 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.
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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
In brief
Player ratingsRaúl Alcaina could not find anything
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aurélio Buta 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Penafiel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Penafiel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
An order from above at Penafiel: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aurélio Buta 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Penafiel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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
Madi Queta 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Aurélio Buta 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.
Joan Femenías 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
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aurélio Buta 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aurélio Buta 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.