Marked for Luis Colmenarez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Quentin Ndjantou takes the afternoon — 8.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Quentin Ndjantou provided it, and the 8.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Quentin Ndjantou. 2‑1 against Renate, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
He is 23 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 112% of the AlbinoLeffe income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Edoardo Sottini
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Luis Colmenarez 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at AlbinoLeffe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriele Boloca 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Simone Potop 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
A promise honoured for Mihai Gusu
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Squad
Quentin Ndjantou, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
32 days out for Gabriele Baldi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AlbinoLeffe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match31 Oct 2026
6 matches without a win for AlbinoLeffe
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around AlbinoLeffe are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match31 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted AlbinoLeffe
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AlbinoLeffe can tell you which week it ends in.
Match31 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Union Brescia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at AlbinoLeffe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giacomo Sali 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
112% of the income goes out in wages at AlbinoLeffe
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
47 days out for Gabriele Baldi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AlbinoLeffe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Cittadella, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for AlbinoLeffe
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around AlbinoLeffe are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
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. 14 actions, 6.95, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Riccardo Baroni, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for Fabrizio Franchini, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for AlbinoLeffe is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the AlbinoLeffe 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Gabriele Boloca 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
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giacomo Sciacca, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at AlbinoLeffe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giacomo Sali 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 dugout12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and AlbinoLeffe 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Luis Colmenarez 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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
A test against the best for AlbinoLeffe
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Cittadella.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Edoardo Sottini’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and AlbinoLeffe needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mattia Angeloni has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Gabriele Baldi out for 63 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AlbinoLeffe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Simone Potop goes up and wins it — 6.81
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 6.81 for the rest of it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Quentin Ndjantou is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 143% of everything AlbinoLeffe earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giacomo Sali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for AlbinoLeffe is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giacomo Sali, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.