Marked for Gabriel Xavier
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 May 2027
Cup progress for Bahia
A 2‑0 win over Barcelona de Ilhéus, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The dugout24 May 2027
Danilo says Bahia went back on their word
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market24 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bahia can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 May 2027
No sign of nerves from Wendel Passos at 21 — 7.60
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Wendel Passos did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Age has not caught Danilo yet — 7.81
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad24 May 2027
A falling-out at Bahia
Jean Lucas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces24 May 2027
Bahia supporters have found a favourite in Wendel Passos
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Wendel Passos 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.
Match19 May 2027
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Barcelona de Ilhéus tried to reorganise, Bahia did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Bahia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ademir was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Bahia
Caio Alexandre and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market22 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Antônio Araujo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market22 Feb 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Henrique Fonseca 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
Pitbull steps up from the Bahia academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pitbull has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market22 Feb 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Risadinha 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ademir 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 watch22 Feb 2027
Victor wants to come home
“I did not go to Goiânia to sit and watch. I want to come back to Bahia and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Jean Lucas knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jean Lucas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad22 Feb 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 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 Bahia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Bahia
Jean Lucas 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Ademir 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 watch8 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Bahia, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout8 Feb 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bahia told Gabriel Xavier something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Erick Pulga knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Erick Pulga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad8 Feb 2027
No place for Arthur Dias in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Bahia are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bahia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
João Paulo: 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.” Bahia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Jean Lucas goes up and wins it — 7.87
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.87 for the rest of it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Gabriel Xavier pops up at the right end — 7.47
7.47, 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Bahia
Jean Lucas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Bahia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Everton Ribeiro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bahia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Shirak to sit and watch. I want to come back to Bahia and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Bahia
Jean Lucas 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
At last: Bahia win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Sport Recife. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Bahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Everton Ribeiro 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Erick Pulga. 1‑0 against Sport Recife, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Willian José
“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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.59. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.” Alex Martins kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Gabriel Xavier 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Erick has had enough of the noise
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
A hiding for Bahia
Beaten 0‑4 by Vasco da Gama, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Willian José: 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.” Bahia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match17 Oct 2026
7 matches without a win for Bahia
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Bahia are no longer polite ones.
Match17 Oct 2026
7 matches without a goal for Bahia
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Bahia
Jean Lucas 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Zé Guilherme is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Bahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Everton Ribeiro 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ademir
“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.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Bahia 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Erick is still paying for one afternoon at Bahia
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Market
Still no ink between Bahia and Gabriel Xavier
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Bahia
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Bahia are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Bahia
Jean Lucas 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a goal for Bahia
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Jean Lucas 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 Bahia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Gilberto has had enough of the noise
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Alex Martins was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Bahia dressing room was either.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Rodrigo Nestor has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bahia 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Botafogo will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Sep 2026
The small margins put Bahia out
Out, 0‑1 to Sport Recife, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for Bahia
A 0‑3 beating by Corinthians was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Michel Araújo commits to Bahia for another 4 years.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Jean Lucas 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Bahia cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Gabriel Xavier
“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.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Doors closed at Bahia
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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 0‑3 Alex Martins left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
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Player ratings
Wrong net for Danilo
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Player ratings
Gilberto gives it away
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Gilberto's mistake