Marked for Marc Vidal
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gijón lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Antonio Casas takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Antonio Casas provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match21 Nov 2026
Three points for Gijón, 3‑2 the final word against Racing Santander in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.35, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A masterclass from Gaspar
Marked 8.02 — 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.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
12 appearances away from home and 10 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Rubén Yáñez 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emanuel Gularte, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Pablo Diez on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Facundo Melivilo
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gijón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rodri and Gijón agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Mirandés in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
6 appearances at Charlton Athletic and the goals keep coming. Gijón are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Marc Vidal 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 Marc Vidal trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Next up on the road: Mirandés, position 21. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
4 starts and a season average of 6.49. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Facundo Melivilo damages knee ligaments — 86 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 86 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Adrián Bernabé delivers — 7.57
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Adrián Bernabé scored, was marked 7.57, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Gijón are still strangers to each other
13 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
6 appearances away from home and 9 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Match26 Sep 2026
Honours even between Gijón and Leganés
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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pablo Diez was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Gijón dressing room was either.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Facundo Melivilo
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gijón lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Gijón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Sep 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 Gijón heard it as anything else.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Gijón will try again when the window opens; Valladolid may not be selling by then.
Match12 Sep 2026
Deportivo La Coruña left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Rubén Yáñez
“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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pablo Diez after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Gijón have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.