Marked for Marcelo Barreña
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Jorge Pombo 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Alyson signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alyson and Kifisia agree another 3 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Apostolis Christopoulos is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Jorge Pombo 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Yasser Larouci
“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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jorge Pombo 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Moisés Ramírez has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Marco Espíndola
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marcelo Barreña and Kifisia agree another 2 years.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Dimitris Theodoridis was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match3 Oct 2026
Kifisia and OFI take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
Everybody has an opinion about Angelo Sagal
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Market5 Oct 2026
At 39, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Market5 Oct 2026
At 37, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.