Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Getafe spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Isma Ruiz 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.
He is 22 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Theo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
Samuel Vázquez 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Córdoba can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Córdoba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Córdoba and Hércules have settled on $880.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The offer from Lugo for Ramón Vilà 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Córdoba close the window on a squad of their own making
18 in and 9 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Córdoba heard it as anything else.
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isma Ruiz 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Barakaldo have kept their man, and Córdoba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
Transfer targetsThe window shuts on the Sergio Molina deal
The offer from Osasuna for Juan Gutiérrez 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.
Juan Gutiérrez 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Córdoba are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alberto Del Moral was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Córdoba are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Rubén Quintanilla 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Clemente was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Eldense know which stage they are at.
Squad31 May 2027
5 new faces, and Eldense are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Córdoba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 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.
Nélson Monte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isma Ruiz 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 easiest signature of my career.” Stefano Maiorana and Córdoba agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout24 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Antonio Cabrera to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Córdoba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isma Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.80 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Córdoba had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout26 Apr 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.” Antonio Cabrera kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“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.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
Ramón Vilà’s loan is measured in nothing happening
8 clean sheets from 15 appearances at Eldense. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Juan Gutiérrez 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 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
Ramón Vilà’s loan is measured in nothing happening
7 clean sheets from 14 appearances at Eldense. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Zaragoza? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iker Álvarez signs something — a contract at Córdoba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Iván Morante 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Eldense is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Daniel Yáñez 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dioni is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kevin Armesto has written the date down.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gabriel Feitosa is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergi Guardiola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Diego Bri. 2‑0 against Mirandés, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Córdoba are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Stefano Maiorana is 20, and Córdoba have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
Loan watchRamón Vilà’s loan is measured in nothing happening
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sergi Guardiola provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
2‑3 to Deportivo La Coruña, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Córdoba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Gutiérrez 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Antonio Cabrera left the room before anybody could ask which.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Dioni 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Luis Sosa 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Markel Esteban is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daniel Santana is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Àlex Gallardo 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Eldense know which stage they are at.
Eldense have made the call to Elche. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Óscar Vega 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.
In brief
The dugoutFloris Smand asks for a word with the manager