Marked for Guillermo Cotugno
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Racing is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Racing
Bautista Tomatis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Guillermo Cotugno, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Robinson Ferreira 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Racing are still strangers to each other
7 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Bautista Tomatis 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Nobody at Racing 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Racing have made Agustín Kahl available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Iván Manzur wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Racing have no good answer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Racing have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market11 Jan 2027
The deal that would have taken Nicolás Sosa to Wanderers has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Racing with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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 Racing this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Agustín De la Cuesta and Racing agree another 5 years.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Racing asked and Bahia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcelo Tabárez, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Racing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Robinson Ferreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Racing, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces30 Nov 2026
The mood at Racing has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Racing
Bautista Tomatis 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Racing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramiro Brazionis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ángel Cayetano commits to Racing for another 1 years.
Market30 Nov 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Racing can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramiro Brazionis, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Racing have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Racing
Bautista Tomatis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Agustín De la Cuesta, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Racing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Teliz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market23 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bautista Tomatis signs something — a contract at Racing or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Nobody at Racing 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Racing
Bautista Tomatis 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 23 days on the sidelines for Agustín Kahl, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
José Varela 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
Steady
Market5 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 Racing, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Racing
Bautista Tomatis 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ramiro Brazionis commits to Racing for another 4 years.
The dugout5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Álex Vázquez 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Racing than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Racing
Bautista Tomatis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market28 Sep 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebastián da Silva, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ramiro Brazionis 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Racing
20 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
Racing say no — this time
The offer from Leixões for Iván Manzur 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Guillermo Cotugno commits to Racing for another 3 years.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Racing
Bautista Tomatis 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Defensor Sporting left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Racing
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álex Vázquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Esteban da Silva’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
25 new faces, and Racing 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.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Leonardo Varela after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.