Marked for Luis Barbat
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market13 Aug 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
No sign of nerves from Andrés Monsalve at 20 — 7.79
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Andrés Monsalve did not need any: 7.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
A defender's goal wins it for Leones — 7.68
1 for Germán Meneses, marked 7.68, 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 Aug 2029
65 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Aug 2029
A falling-out at Leones
Luis Barbat and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Germán Meneses 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 terraces13 Aug 2029
At 20 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.
Match11 Aug 2029
A 2‑0 win over Santa Fe, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
Brayan Gómez 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Aug 2029
Leones are in real trouble now
Position 19, 24 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The terraces6 Aug 2029
Anger at Leones spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match4 Aug 2029
A hiding for Leones
Beaten 0‑3 by Millonarios, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market6 Aug 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A move Luis Barbat would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luis Barbat is living that version at Leones, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
Pressure builds in the Leones boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad6 Aug 2029
154 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Leones know exactly what they have.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Luis Barbat in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Germán Meneses 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $119.5K of what Leones paid for Oliver Rudman is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Squad5 Feb 2029
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.
Market5 Feb 2029
Thomas Calle hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leones can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Leones told to sell
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Match3 Feb 2029
No end in sight to Leones's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leones has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad5 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Leones
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Germán Meneses was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Leones asked and Atletico Bucaramanga 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 terraces5 Feb 2029
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.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Leones will try again when the window opens; Tigres may not be selling by then.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
Promotion for Leones
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
Squad8 Jan 2029
20 days out for Brayan Gómez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leones will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market8 Jan 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Leones have done the hard part with Deportivo Cali, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad8 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Germán Meneses 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.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Leones asked and Atletico Bucaramanga 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 dugout8 Jan 2029
Nobody at Leones 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Samuel Guzmán arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Dec 2028
Brayan Gómez breaks a bone — 62 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Dec 2028
Leones say no — this time
The offer from Atletico Nacional for Leyner Palacios 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.
Market4 Dec 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 Leones can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Leones
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Germán Meneses was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Dec 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atletico Bucaramanga have kept their man, and Leones go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Leones
Brandon Rossi 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.
Market4 Dec 2028
The phone has started ringing about Johan Martínez again, and this time the name on the line is La Equidad. Leones are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Luis Ceballos has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Leones is pretending otherwise.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Atletico Bucaramanga may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad27 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atletico Bucaramanga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Cristian Iguarán 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 dugout27 Nov 2028
Tiago Serrago is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Something was said to Luis Barbat and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexis González trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Sep 2028
Cristian Iguarán 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Alexis González and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match2 Sep 2028
0‑1 to America de Cali, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Atletico Bucaramanga pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
Something was said to Aldair Zárate and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Market4 Sep 2028
Luis Barbat is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Atletico Bucaramanga has been clear about where Luis Barbat stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Apr 2028
The knee: Fabry Castro out for 97 days
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atletico Bucaramanga lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Atletico Bucaramanga may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Leonardo Flores pops up at the right end — 7.70
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.
Market24 Apr 2028
Only the photograph left for José García
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. José García will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atletico Bucaramanga the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market24 Apr 2028
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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atletico Bucaramanga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Apr 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Leonardo Flores. 1‑0 against America de Cali, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martín Payares, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Marked 7.88 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Atletico Bucaramanga had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Apr 2028
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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Tiago Serrago 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 terraces10 Apr 2028
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.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Something was said to Tiago Serrago and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad10 Apr 2028
7 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.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
A mark of 7.58, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
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.” Wilmar Borja kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Atletico Bucaramanga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaime Acosta 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 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 Atletico Bucaramanga can pretend not to have heard.
Match1 Apr 2028
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Atletico Bucaramanga are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Tiago Serrago 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 dugout3 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to José Ortiz, and the manager let it.
Match1 Apr 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Atletico Bucaramanga told Cristian Iguarán something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Félix Charrupí named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Félix Charrupí is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Félix Charrupí has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Atletico Bucaramanga 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
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Mateo Aguilar: 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.” Atletico Bucaramanga have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad13 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atletico Bucaramanga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
10 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 dugout13 Mar 2028
“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.
Match11 Mar 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Luis Barbat 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 dugout13 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Wilmar Borja chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Looking ahead13 Mar 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dairon Valencia’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Atletico Bucaramanga needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Dennys Quintero: 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.” Atletico Bucaramanga have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market21 Feb 2028
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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Cristian Iguarán 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Luis Barbat gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Luis Barbat has just signed for Atletico Bucaramanga, and for once the answer mattered.
Match19 Feb 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“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.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Aldair Zárate'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.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Wilmar Borja to a room that had heard them before.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Luis Mateus 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Feb 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 Atletico Bucaramanga can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Feb 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Atletico Bucaramanga can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match12 Feb 2028
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Jaguares were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Cristian Iguarán 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.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
Atletico Bucaramanga asked and Fortaleza CEIF said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atletico Bucaramanga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces14 Feb 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Cristian Iguarán 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Feb 2028
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Pressure builds in the River Plate boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $126.5K of what River Plate paid for Luis Barbat is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Market7 Feb 2028
Tomás López hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what River Plate can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Feb 2028
The deal that would have taken Cecilio Waterman to Juventud has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to River Plate with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Ignacio Pereira 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.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Diego Mercado 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 dugout7 Feb 2028
Ignacio Pereira has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at River Plate 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
Uneasy
The terraces3 Jan 2028
Supporters organise against the River Plate board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market3 Jan 2028
Luis Barbat hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what River Plate can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Estudiantes keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Ignacio Pereira 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.
Market3 Jan 2028
Add another name to the list: Terremoto have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lorenzo González. The answer from River Plate has not changed — yet.
Market3 Jan 2028
30 games and 7 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at River Plate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Schiappacasse 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.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Iván Manzur slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Iván Manzur is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Nov 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 River Plate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Nov 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 River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at River Plate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Schiappacasse 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 dugout22 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.
Loan watch22 Nov 2027
“I watch every River Plate game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Basanez runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Carlos Rodríguez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at River Plate 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.
The dugout22 Nov 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 River Plate, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Loan watch22 Nov 2027
7 goals in 30 games at Brasil de Pelotas — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at River Plate updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Loan watch22 Nov 2027
The goals keep arriving from Rodrigo Hernández’s exile
7 goals in 14 games at Villa Teresa — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at River Plate updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Oct 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Ignacio Pereira 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 dugout11 Oct 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.
Loan watch11 Oct 2027
“Three loans in three years. At some point a club has to decide if I am their player or their asset.” The spell at Sud America continues; the message travels home.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Diego Mercado 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.
Loan watch11 Oct 2027
“I watch every River Plate game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Huracan del Paso runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
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 Ignacio Pereira is on it.
Market11 Oct 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout11 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout4 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Franco Catarozzi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at River Plate is pretending otherwise.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Luis Barbat: 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.” River Plate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market4 Oct 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lorenzo González will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around River Plate the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yonatan Irrazábal commits to River Plate for another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Ignacio Pereira 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.
Loan watch4 Oct 2027
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at River Plate and a proper look at me.” He remains Brasil de Pelotas’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at River Plate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Mercado 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.
Loan watch4 Oct 2027
“I did not go to Villa Teresa to sit and watch. I want to come back to River Plate and fight for my place.” 14 appearances in 42 matches say the rest.
The dugout4 Oct 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.