Marked for Derlis Gonzalez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Braian Romero commits to Olimpia for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Gastón Olveira 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Lucas Morales 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Three points for Olimpia, 2‑1 the final word against Guarani in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Rubén Lezcano 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“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 ratings8 Mar 2027
Chances created: 4. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 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 Olimpia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Diego Diellos for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Olimpia will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Lucas Morales 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
Steady
Market18 Jan 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Derlis Gonzalez 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 Olimpia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Morales 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.
Squad18 Jan 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Olimpia has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market18 Jan 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Rogelio Espínola may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
Continental nights are coming to Olimpia
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Market14 Dec 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market14 Dec 2026
So close: Hugo Quintana’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Cerro Porteno moved on, Hugo Quintana reports back to Olimpia, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Rogelio Espínola 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rogelio Espínola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olimpia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olimpia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Dec 2026
Olimpia say no — this time
The offer from Libertad for Hugo Quintana 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.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Augusto Melgarejo has agreed terms with Sportivo Trinidense for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Market7 Dec 2026
Only the photograph left for Lucas Ramírez
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Ramírez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olimpia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Derlis Gonzalez 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gustavo Vargas wants continental football; whether Olimpia can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Market7 Dec 2026
The phone has started ringing about Raúl Cáceres again, and this time the name on the line is Libertad. Olimpia are listening politely and promising nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olimpia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Lucas Morales 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
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olimpia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Juan Ángel Vera in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Gastón Olveira knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Olimpia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Derlis Gonzalez 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Olimpia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Morales 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
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olimpia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olimpia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Lucas Morales 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
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olimpia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Derlis Gonzalez 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.
Market12 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Derlis Gonzalez 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Olimpia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Morales 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
Steady
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match2 Sep 2026
The small margins put Olimpia out
Out, 0‑1 to Nacional, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olimpia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olimpia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gustavo Vargas and Olimpia agree another 4 years.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Lucas Morales 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
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Derlis Gonzalez 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 55. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Aug 2026
Olimpia through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over General Diaz, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olimpia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Lucas Morales 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
The afternoon belonged to Alex Franco
7.76, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Olimpia had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Olimpia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
465 appearances across 15 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market3 Aug 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Braian Romero commits to Olimpia for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Gastón Olveira 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Olimpia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.