From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
78 days out for Ezequiel Piovi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Estudiantes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ezequiel Piovi 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Joaquín Tobio Burgos again, and this time the name on the line is Luzern. Estudiantes are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Estudiantes will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Estudiantes will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
85 days out for Ezequiel Piovi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Estudiantes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market11 Jan 2027
Olimpia come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Estudiantes did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Matías Daniele had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Boca Juniors wanted more than $2.9M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market11 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Estudiantes have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Eric Meza gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leandro González Pírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Eros Mancuso gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Eros Mancuso is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
92 days out for Ezequiel Piovi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Estudiantes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market4 Jan 2027
Penarol come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Estudiantes did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market4 Jan 2027
The Lanús deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Guido Carrillo reports back to Estudiantes with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Estudiantes have gone to Boca Juniors with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Tiago Palacios has come up in conversations Estudiantes were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
$210.0K was the most the club would pay and Argentinos Juniors were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leandro González Pírez 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 dugout4 Jan 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Ezequiel Piovi out for 99 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Estudiantes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Dec 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Estudiantes have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match28 Dec 2026
Estudiantes refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market28 Dec 2026
The offer from Cesar Vallejo for Edwuin Cetré 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.
Market28 Dec 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 Estudiantes, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Galo Galarza: 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.” Estudiantes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ezequiel Piovi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
Godoy Cruz wanted more than $520.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Ezequiel Cerutti for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Estudiantes will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Ezequiel Piovi out for 108 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Estudiantes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Market21 Dec 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Estudiantes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market21 Dec 2026
The bid was some way short and Estudiantes did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
The offer went to Godoy Cruz this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market21 Dec 2026
The fee is $480.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Belgrano drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
Estudiantes offered $700.0K; Gimnasia La Plata said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ezequiel Piovi 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.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
$210.0K on the table at Argentinos Juniors. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Ezequiel Piovi out for 117 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Estudiantes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match11 Dec 2026
Estudiantes do the business in Europe
0‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Estudiantes came through the finding-out well against Huachipato.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Belgrano; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
$1.8M was the most the club would pay and Instituto were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tomás Guiacobini 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. Tomás Guiacobini has, at Estudiantes, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market14 Dec 2026
The fee is $360.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Gimnasia La Plata drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Ezequiel Piovi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
124 days out for Ezequiel Piovi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Estudiantes will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
$360.0K settles it between the clubs for Leandro Mamut
Gimnasia La Plata have accepted the money. What Estudiantes do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gimnasia La Plata have kept their man, and Estudiantes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
Estudiantes offered $1.4M; Gimnasia La Plata said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
The deal with Sarmiento is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad7 Dec 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 Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Guido Carrillo
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leandro González Pírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Ezequiel Piovi out for 132 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Estudiantes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
Match30 Nov 2026
Estudiantes refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Match27 Nov 2026
Estudiantes beaten on the continent
1‑2 against Flamengo, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ezequiel Piovi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fernando Muslera, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The team sheet said everything about Guido Carrillo
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Guido Carrillo.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Something was said to Fernando Muslera and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad30 Nov 2026
8 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Matías Vecino and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Blas López Bertero, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Lucas Alario
“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.
Market23 Nov 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jonatan Gómez has his answer from Estudiantes; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Eros Mancuso gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Eros Mancuso is on it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Santiago Arzamendia 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
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ezequiel Piovi 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leandro González Pírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Matías Vecino has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Estudiantes 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Tiago Palacios 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 Estudiantes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Nov 2026
Estudiantes beaten on the continent
0‑1 against Atletico Nacional, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
Market9 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Estudiantes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Nov 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 Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Ezequiel Cerutti
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Estudiantes will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leandro González Pírez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Carlos Gómez to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Fernando Muslera is on it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Tiago Palacios 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 Estudiantes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Nov 2026
Estudiantes are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 22 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ezequiel Piovi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Something was said to Guido Carrillo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jalil Elías, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Joaquín Tobio Burgos is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Joaquín Correa has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Estudiantes 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Silvio Romero slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Silvio Romero is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Guido Carrillo 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 Guido Carrillo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match23 Oct 2026
A European night to remember for Estudiantes
0‑0 against Atletico Nacional, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Joaquín Tobio Burgos did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ezequiel Piovi 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.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over Boca Juniors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leandro González Pírez 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 8.05 — 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The team sheet said everything about Tiago Palacios
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Tiago Palacios.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
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 7.73 for the rest of it.
Squad19 Oct 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 Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Talleres will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Valentín Depietri has pre-agreed a move to Estudiantes, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Match17 Oct 2026
Three points for Estudiantes, 1‑0 the final word against Lanús in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Something was said to Ezequiel Piovi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Carlos Gómez on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Matías Vecino gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matías Vecino is on it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramiro Funes Mori 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Estudiantes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Oct 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 Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leandro González Pírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
No hiding place for Eric Meza
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eric Meza, and the manager let it.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout12 Oct 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 0‑1 Carlos Gómez left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Oct 2026
Estudiantes do the business in Europe
1‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Estudiantes came through the finding-out well against Huachipato.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Oct 2026
Estudiantes are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 16 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Matías Vecino 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. José Devecchi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Estudiantes have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Tiago Palacios
“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
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leandro González Pírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Tiago Palacios was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
7.77, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Estudiantes had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Leandro González Pírez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match26 Sep 2026
Three points for Estudiantes, 1‑0 the final word against Instituto in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Estudiantes
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Miguel Monsalve
“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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Carlos Gómez, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Eros Mancuso has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Estudiantes 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Tiago Palacios asks for a word with the manager
“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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Sep 2026
0‑3. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Squad21 Sep 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Estudiantes
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Estudiantes are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Eros Mancuso 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a goal for Estudiantes
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.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Belgrano will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Francisco González Metilli has pre-agreed a move to Estudiantes, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leandro González Pírez 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Guido Carrillo will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Sep 2026
Argentinos Juniors go through and Estudiantes go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market14 Sep 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Estudiantes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match12 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Estudiantes
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad14 Sep 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 Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Guido Carrillo, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leandro González Pírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match2 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Instituto, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Galo Galarza at 21 — 7.86
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Galo Galarza did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match2 Sep 2026
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Leandro González Pírez 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.
The dugout7 Sep 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.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Jalil Elías slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jalil Elías is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Carlos Gómez, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Aug 2026
Ferro Carril Oeste are out and Estudiantes go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market31 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.28 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Leandro González Pírez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
He is 22 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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Estudiantes.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Miguel Monsalve at his very best
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Estudiantes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Los Andes, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ezequiel Piovi 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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
He is 20 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Estudiantes have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leandro González Pírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Adolfo Gaich was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leandro González Pírez, and the manager let it.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Newell's Old Boys leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
Matías Vecino 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. Matías Vecino has, at Estudiantes, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market17 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ramiro Funes Mori will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Estudiantes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Matías Vecino 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match15 Aug 2026
San Lorenzo left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The formation has left Matías Vecino behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Estudiantes will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Carlos Gómez to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
The one goal a footballer does not get to celebrate and does not get to forget either. His name is in the wrong column and nothing about it was meant.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market10 Aug 2026
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Lucas Rodríguez is a Estudiantes player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ezequiel Piovi commits to Estudiantes for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ezequiel Piovi 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Marcelo Meli has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Estudiantes have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tiago Palacios. 1‑0 against Unión de Santa Fe, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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 ratings10 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Carlos Gómez could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Talleres, and it could have been more.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fernando Muslera commits to Estudiantes for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Eros Mancuso in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.94, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Brian Aguirre 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leandro González Pírez 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad3 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Estudiantes 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Market
The clock runs on Jalil Elías's contract
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The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Joaquín Correa