Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Borja Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mario Vidal was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Lugo dressing room was either.
Brian Machuca 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 Santiago Mouriño was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alex Morales. 1‑0 against Talavera, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Brian Machuca 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Mouriño 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
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.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“I watch every Lugo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Andorra runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Tenerife left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Borja Sánchez 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Antonio Oviedo had Lugo level again within 4 minutes, and Bilbao Athletic never got to play with a lead at all.
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.
Minute 89, against Celta Fortuna, 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Pérez Acuña trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Mario Vidal chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Mouriño 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.
Nicolás Reniero 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 21 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.
Chances created: 12. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mario Vidal on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at Lugo is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lugo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Santiago Mouriño 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Tomás Nasif 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.
A 1‑0 win over Real Avilés, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Borja Sánchez 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.
Something was said to Tomás Nasif and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lugo 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Lugo is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Something was said to Víctor Pastrana and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lugo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Ignacio Acosta has written the date down.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Mouriño 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Lugo told Santiago Mouriño something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Julián Vitale 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.
The dugout22 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mario Vidal to a room that had heard them before.
A brace, and Tomás Nasif takes the afternoon — 8.75
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tomás Nasif provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lugo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Brian Machuca 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Borja Sánchez 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.
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 Matías Pérez Acuña.
Something was said to Oso and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
7 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lugo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Arenteiro; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Brian Machuca 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 had been thinking. Santiago Mouriño 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Lugo know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lugo 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 Santiago Mouriño was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
It needed Víctor Pastrana to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Unionistas, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market1 Mar 2027
Iker Piedra returns from a loan that taught him nothing
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lugo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tomás Nasif. 1‑0 against Cacereño, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Borja Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nicolás Reniero 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sabadell have kept their man, and Lugo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Lugo will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Squad15 Feb 2027
6 new faces, and Lugo 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.
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.
Santiago Mouriño 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 doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Lugo know which stage they are at.
In brief
SquadVíctor Pastrana falls out with a teammate over standards
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Borja Sánchez will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Lugo escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Andorra waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Lugo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lugo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Lugo close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Lugo have done the hard part with Zaragoza, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olympiacos keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
1 for Obed Vargas, marked 7.53, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at River Plate is saying, and nobody at Lugo is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Mouriño 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.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The deal with Villarreal 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Lugo can tell you which week it ends in.
Brian Machuca 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.
$6.3M on the table at Real Sociedad. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Brian Machuca 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 Borja Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lugo can pretend not to have heard.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Lugo is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lugo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Lugo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Tarazona runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Borja Sánchez 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Pastrana 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.
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.
Nicolás Reniero 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Borja Sánchez 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.
The dugout21 Dec 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 Mario Vidal to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Nobody at Lugo is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Lugo was different afterwards.
Brian Machuca 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fernando Corica, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Borja Sánchez 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Mario Vidal chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Nicolás Reniero was the best thing in any of them.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Diego Caballo
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Víctor Pastrana’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Lugo needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Nicolás Reniero scored in the 87th minute, Real Avilés had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Lugo took the lot.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lugo 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: Nicolás Reniero. 2‑1 against Real Avilés, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Víctor Pastrana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gabriel Costa is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lugo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ignacio Acosta, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Borja Sánchez 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.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Brian Machuca 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 finished 2‑0, and it was Álex Gallar’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Lugo.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Nicolás Reniero was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Brian Machuca was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Borja Sánchez 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.
Gabriel Costa 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 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Lugo. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Lugo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Borja Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Mario Vidal could afford to be generous.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Borja Sánchez 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Brian Machuca
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Antonio Oviedo has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Brian Machuca 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 1‑0 win over Osasuna Promesas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.36 — 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.
17 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mario Vidal on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Brian Machuca 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.
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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mario Vidal on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lugo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Pontevedra next, and one man in the Lugo dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Lugo. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yanis Senhadji signs something — a contract at Lugo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Lugo the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Everybody at Lugo saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout5 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 Mario Vidal left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Gabriel Costa 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Fernando Corica was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.66. 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Antonio Oviedo in the middle of it, and Arenas Club unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Felipe Obradovich, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
16 new faces, and Lugo 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Mario Vidal could afford to be generous.
Gabriel Costa 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mario Vidal after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Guadalajara? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Lugo squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Lugo the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
The deal that would have taken Santi Samanés to Zamora has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Lugo with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Lugo asked and Athletic Bilbao said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lugo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Trigueros 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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Ponferradina arrived with $1.7M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Rodrigo Marina had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Álex Balboa has gone, the accounts have $1.7M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 24 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Lugo until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Gabriel Costa 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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Nea Salamis had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Lugo had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Real Madrid, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Brian Machuca 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 is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.2M for Rodrigo Marina, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad31 Aug 2026
16 new faces, and Lugo 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.
$8.7M was the most the club would pay and Rayo Vallecano 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.
The offer went to Hércules 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.3M — a club that wants Samuel Vázquez enough to be asked twice.
Brian Machuca 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.
Yanis Senhadji was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $2.5M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Lugo asked and Valencia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
SquadWords at Lugo training over how hard people work
Betis have accepted the money. What Lugo do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lugo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer went to Betis 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Albacete have kept their man, and Lugo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $10.8M — a club that wants Isi Palazón enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lugo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Lugo will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Lugo will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Lugo, another week without a signature from Antonio Oviedo.
In brief
SquadWords at Lugo training over how hard people work
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Antonio Oviedo has just signed for Lugo, and for once the answer mattered.
$3.8M on the table at Rayo Vallecano. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Gabriel Costa 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Felipe Obradovich from Ferro Carril Oeste for $1.3M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gimnasia La Plata have kept their man, and Lugo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Julen Moreno is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Lugo have gone to Ferro Carril Oeste 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lugo 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 Iago López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gimnasia La Plata have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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.