Alex Luna 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Ledesma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
6 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Instituto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Instituto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Ledesma 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juan Ignacio Méndez. 1‑0 against Deportivo Riestra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Miguel Varela, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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.” Juan Carlos Costa, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fernando Alarcón and Instituto agree another 2 years.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Instituto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonás Acevedo 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 dugout8 Mar 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Juan Carlos Costa to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
0‑3 to Estudiantes, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Alex Luna 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonathan Galván, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Instituto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonás Acevedo 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Instituto 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Facundo Suárez has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Alex Luna 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.26, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Instituto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Sanseviero 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Juan Carlos Costa could afford to be generous.
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 Marcos Ledesma is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Instituto know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Lucas Sanseviero decided otherwise. Platense had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
“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 Instituto, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Instituto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lucas Sanseviero. 4‑3 against Platense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonás Acevedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lucas Márquez has, at Instituto, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Enzo Ferrari 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Licha 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leonardo Castillo 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Juan Manuel Ponce is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Instituto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonás Acevedo 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Juan Ignacio Berasi has just signed for Instituto, and for once the answer mattered.
Alex Luna 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Juan Ignacio Berasi is a Instituto player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Instituto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Sanseviero 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.
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 Alarcón is on it.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Instituto than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jonathan Galván’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Instituto needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Fernando Alarcón 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Jonás Acevedo 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.
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 Hernán de la Fuente is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giuliano Cerato trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Instituto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonás Acevedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Marcos Ledesma is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Instituto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Luciano Pacco has, at Instituto, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Independiente moved on, Hugo Rojas reports back to Instituto, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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.
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 Jonás Acevedo is on it.
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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Instituto had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Fernando Alarcón 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.
Nobody at Instituto 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Fonseca trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Instituto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alex Luna 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.
At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Maldonado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Instituto 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Instituto know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Instituto had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Instituto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 Marcos Ledesma is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Diego Sosa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Instituto and O'Higgins, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Matías Fonseca was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.51. 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.
At 22 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.
Fernando Alarcón 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Franco Jara has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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 Alarcón is on it.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giuliano Cerato trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
In brief
The terracesThe stands have heard the Alex Luna talk too
Position 3, 21 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.
Alex Luna 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.
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 Jonathan Galván.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Instituto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Sanseviero 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Instituto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 Giuliano Cerato is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Franco Moyano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Instituto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Something was said to Alex Luna and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Instituto 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Maldonado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gustavo Abregú trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
0‑2 against Deportes Tolima. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Instituto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alex Luna 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Franco Jara will call it something else in private.
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.
Something was said to Fernando Alarcón and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Position 3, 21 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Albarracín was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Jonás Acevedo is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Instituto, another week without a signature from Facundo Suárez.
0‑0 against Deportes Tolima, 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.
Franco Jara 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Instituto pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Instituto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emanuel Sittaro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Instituto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lorenzo Albarracín is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Franco Jara 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Instituto and Talleres, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 22 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.
In brief
Player ratingsJonás Acevedo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Instituto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Instituto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jeremías Lázaro and Instituto agree another 4 years.
The dugout12 Oct 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 Juan Carlos Costa to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Instituto 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.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Alex Luna 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.
Level with 94 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Instituto had all but put away. O'Higgins will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
16 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.
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 7.66 for the rest of it.
Franco Jara 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Instituto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Juan Piris 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.
0‑2 against Grêmio, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Instituto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Franco Jara 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.
Minute 93, against Lanús, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Instituto pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Facundo Suárez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Instituto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Emanuel Sittaro has agreed terms with Gimnasia La Plata for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Alex Luna 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.
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.
Out, 0‑1 to Gimnasia La Plata, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Facundo Suárez has agreed terms with Racing Club for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Marked 8.38 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Franco Jara 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.
6 goals in one match, Facundo Suárez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Instituto and Defensa y Justicia.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jorge Sosa 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Facundo Suárez obliged against Chaco For Ever. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Instituto.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matías Fonseca provided it, and the 9.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 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.
Franco Jara 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Instituto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 3‑2 win over Gimnasia y Esgrima, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alex Luna 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Juan Carlos Costa could afford to be generous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Piris was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Dinamo Tbilisi for Jonás Acevedo 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Instituto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tucu 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luis Alberto Lombardi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Agustín Suárez 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alex Luna trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeremías Lázaro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 96th minute. Independiente will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Alex Luna 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.
16 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.