Marked for Jovane Cabral
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Nov 2026
No mercy from Grêmio
Vasco da Gama will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Grêmio were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.83, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Lucca keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Grêmio may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Grêmio
Juan Ignacio Nardoni 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
Defences have started doubling up on Carlos Vinícius
13 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match28 Nov 2026
Grêmio make home a hard place to visit
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” André Henrique commits to Grêmio for another 3 years.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Tetê at his very best
Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Grêmio.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Jovane Cabral ran the middle of the pitch — 7.55
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.55, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Grêmio
Juan Ignacio Nardoni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match21 Nov 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Jovane Cabral had Grêmio level again within 4 minutes, and Ceará never got to play with a lead at all.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Grêmio dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 7.99 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Grêmio had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Wagner Leonardo'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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
No hiding place for Dodi
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dodi, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Gustavo Martins has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Grêmio 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
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Grêmio may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.86, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market9 Nov 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Grêmio heard it as anything else.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jovane Cabral and Grêmio agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Grêmio
Martin Braithwaite 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
6 unbeaten for Grêmio
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Grêmio did not have in the autumn.
Match7 Nov 2026
Three points for Grêmio, 1‑0 the final word against Mirassol in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.43 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grêmio can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Grêmio heard it as anything else.
Match27 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Carlos Vinícius’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Grêmio.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 8.22 — 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francis Amuzu, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Grêmio
Something was said to Martin Braithwaite and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Leonel Pérez is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Juan Ignacio Nardoni 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Both jobs done by Leonel Pérez — 6.76
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.76, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Grêmio have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match3 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout5 Oct 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Tetê beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Francis Amuzu dropped after a run of poor form
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gabriel Menegon
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grêmio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Grêmio
Martin Braithwaite and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
6 unbeaten for Grêmio
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Grêmio did not have in the autumn.
The dugout21 Sep 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Carlos Vinícius. 2‑0 against São Paulo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.21 — 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Grêmio are still strangers to each other
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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match25 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Grêmio
A 2‑0 win over Ceará, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market31 Aug 2026
Dodi 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 Grêmio can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.36, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market31 Aug 2026
Grêmio say no — this time
The offer from Zaragoza for André Henrique 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Grêmio — 7.75
1 for Leonel Pérez, marked 7.75, 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Grêmio
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Ignacio Nardoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Aug 2026
Three points for Grêmio, 2‑1 the final word against Fortaleza in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Grêmio supporters have found a favourite in Leonel Pérez
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Leonel Pérez 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 ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match4 Aug 2026
Bragging rights belong to Grêmio for another year after a 1‑0 win over Internacional in front of a full house.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Leonel Pérez had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Grêmio and a story that will outlast his contract.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Grêmio hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Weverton signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Weverton commits to Grêmio for another 2 years.
Squad10 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 Grêmio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Thiago Galhardo arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Thiago Galhardo has, at Grêmio, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Grêmio
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Ignacio Nardoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.