From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Oct 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match16 Oct 2027
7 matches without a win for Ospitaletto
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Ospitaletto are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Oct 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Oct 2027
The goals have deserted Ospitaletto
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ospitaletto can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Nessi 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
Union Brescia left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“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 dugout18 Oct 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 Roberto Vignali to a room that had heard them before.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Lumezzane, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match9 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Ospitaletto's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ospitaletto has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Oct 2027
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Simone Cinquegrano 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Saporetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“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.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom11 Oct 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad4 Oct 2027
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.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
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Match2 Oct 2027
5 matches without a win for Ospitaletto
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Ospitaletto are no longer polite ones.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marcello Possenti and Ospitaletto agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Simone Cinquegrano 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
0‑1 to Vicenza, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Michel Panatti
“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 dugout4 Oct 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Roberto Vignali after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Sep 2027
Catania go through and Ospitaletto go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ospitaletto will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad27 Sep 2027
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.
Match25 Sep 2027
4 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
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Squad27 Sep 2027
Simone Cinquegrano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“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 Ospitaletto know it.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mateo Miglino, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ospitaletto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match18 Sep 2027
Still nobody has beaten Ospitaletto
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.
Squad20 Sep 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Saporetti 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 dugout20 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michele Casali, and the manager let it.
Match18 Sep 2027
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Pro Patria scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Match18 Sep 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Roberto Vignali after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ospitaletto will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market13 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Marked 7.94 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad13 Sep 2027
At 23 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.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ciro Gargiulo has agreed terms with Torres for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Simone Cinquegrano 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Match11 Sep 2027
Still nobody has beaten Ospitaletto
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Sep 2027
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ospitaletto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ospitaletto may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
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Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 24 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Ospitaletto 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Leandro Larroza is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match4 Sep 2027
Nobody wants to play Ospitaletto right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Simone Cinquegrano 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Aug 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ospitaletto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Alex Amadio, 19, steals the show — 8.14
Marked 8.14 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad30 Aug 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Mattia Suppa gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mattia Suppa has just signed for Ospitaletto, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Valerio Maccaroni is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
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Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Ospitaletto asked and Avellino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
The crowd has taken to Alex Amadio
At 19 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Aug 2027
At 20 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
The medical room confirms 19 days on the sidelines for Gabriele Indragoli, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad23 Aug 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
3 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Simone Saporetti 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
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.
Market23 Aug 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Roberto Parisi 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gianluca Moretti is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market23 Aug 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Silvio Mariani 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Simone Cinquegrano is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ospitaletto may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Simone Cinquegrano 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 Aug 2027
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ravenna have kept their man, and Ospitaletto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Nessi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Riccardo Nessi, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
A loan enquiry to Sion: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout9 Aug 2027
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Squad9 Aug 2027
The step up is real for Alex Amadio
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Simone Cinquegrano 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Simone Saporetti 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juve Stabia have kept their man, and Ospitaletto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Michele Casali
“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 dugout9 Aug 2027
Zakaria Hamadi 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ospitaletto may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A move Murselo Dervishi would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Murselo Dervishi is living that version at Ospitaletto, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Simone Cinquegrano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Saporetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrea Vailati and Ospitaletto agree another 3 years.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mateo Miglino, and the manager let it.
Market2 Aug 2027
Giuseppe Scarano is 19, and Ospitaletto have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market2 Aug 2027
Murselo Dervishi is 20, and Ospitaletto have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Mattia Guarneri: 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.” Ospitaletto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ospitaletto have done the hard part with Bari, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market26 Jul 2027
Trento pay $630.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market26 Jul 2027
Alessandro Torri has left for Latina in a $370.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A move Lorenzo Colonnese would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lorenzo Colonnese is living that version at Ospitaletto, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Ospitaletto asked and Lecce said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Riccardo Nessi 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.
Squad26 Jul 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jul 2027
“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 Ospitaletto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Jul 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Samuele Picardi gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Samuele Picardi has just signed for Ospitaletto, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Saporetti 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
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.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A loan move for Alex Amadio is in the works
Ospitaletto have made the call to Como. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market19 Jul 2027
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market19 Jul 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ospitaletto, another week without a signature from Michele Casali.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Jul 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Alessandro Torri had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market12 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
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Squad12 Jul 2027
Andrea Vailati 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. Andrea Vailati has, at Ospitaletto, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matteo Gualandris and Ospitaletto agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Saporetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“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 Ospitaletto know it.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“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 dugout12 Jul 2027
Something was said to Claudio Messaggi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout5 Jul 2027
Riccardo Nessi: 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.” Ospitaletto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Ospitaletto had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benevento, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The terraces5 Jul 2027
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: Simone Cinquegrano from Sassuolo for $1.9M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Nessi 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Gabriele Mondini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Jul 2027
61 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Ospitaletto offered $1.2M; Benevento 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Valerio Maccaroni is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Saporetti 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 dugout28 Jun 2027
“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 Jun 2027
Riccardo Nessi 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.
Squad28 Jun 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 Ospitaletto will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market28 Jun 2027
Ospitaletto have made Mattia Guarneri available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Ospitaletto have gone to Benevento 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The deal with Catanzaro 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Luca Sonzogni is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Cremonese wanted more than $110.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Saporetti 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.
Squad21 Jun 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“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.
Market21 Jun 2027
The name of Simone Saporetti keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ospitaletto say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Sassuolo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
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Squad14 Jun 2027
At 20 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Francesco Galuppini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
An offer of $110.0K for Joseph Jeon
Ospitaletto have gone to Cremonese 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Riccardo Nessi 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 Jun 2027
“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 dugout14 Jun 2027
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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Ospitaletto have let the market know Francesco Gobbi can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ospitaletto have done the hard part with AS Roma, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Saporetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
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.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Francesco Gobbi
“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 Jun 2027
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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A loan move for Mattia Viviani is in the works
Ospitaletto have made the call to Arezzo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market7 Jun 2027
Leandro Larroza is 19, and Ospitaletto have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 May 2027
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Simone Saporetti 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 dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Bevilacqua, and the manager let it.
Squad31 May 2027
“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.
The dugout31 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matteo Gualandris trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout31 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 May 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
“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 Ospitaletto know it.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Nessi 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 dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Torri, and the manager let it.
Squad24 May 2027
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Simone Saporetti has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 May 2027
A season average of 7.53 with 25 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings17 May 2027
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.59 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The dugout17 May 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad17 May 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Riccardo Nessi and Ospitaletto agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Saporetti 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.
Match15 May 2027
Pergolettese made Ospitaletto work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings17 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.75, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Riccardo Nessi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
24 goals and a season average of 7.50 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Andrea Pavanello, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad10 May 2027
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Saporetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 May 2027
“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 dugout10 May 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.” Roberto Vignali chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Ospitaletto will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad3 May 2027
Martin Georgiev 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 dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcello Possenti, and the manager let it.
Squad3 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Nessi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout3 May 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ospitaletto told Mattia Ievoli something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Apr 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
No sign of nerves from Andrea Pavanello at 21 — 7.69
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Andrea Pavanello did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad26 Apr 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mattia Guarneri and Ospitaletto agree another 4 years.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Simone Saporetti 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
Three points for Ospitaletto, 2‑1 the final word against Novara in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces26 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matteo Gualandris, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
A mark of 7.95, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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Squad19 Apr 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Simone Saporetti 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
11 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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 0‑2 Roberto Vignali left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad19 Apr 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 Ospitaletto will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The team sheet said everything about Francesco Gobbi
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 Francesco Gobbi.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Apr 2027
24 goals and a season average of 7.52. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.88 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Francesco Galuppini. 2‑1 against AlbinoLeffe, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market12 Apr 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vincenzo Tarantino 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 8.62 — 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Nessi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alessandro Torri and Ospitaletto agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Roberto Vignali on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Apr 2027
Pro Vercelli will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ospitaletto were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A season average of 7.49 with 23 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The match ball belongs to Francesco Galuppini, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.79 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad5 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ospitaletto may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Saporetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
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.
Market5 Apr 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Marcello Possenti has his answer from Ospitaletto; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad29 Mar 2027
20 goals and a season average of 7.43. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Francesco Galuppini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Simone Saporetti 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.
Match27 Mar 2027
1‑2 to Trento, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match27 Mar 2027
Ospitaletto hit back inside 4 minutes
Trento held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Ospitaletto answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Marked 6.83 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match20 Mar 2027
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Giana Erminio spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Market22 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A move Mateo Miglino would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mateo Miglino is living that version at Ospitaletto, and it tends to show in the first month.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Ospitaletto — 7.90
1 for Riccardo Nessi, marked 7.90, 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.
Squad22 Mar 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Nessi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match13 Mar 2027
Alcione Milano will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ospitaletto were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.65 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Mar 2027
19 goals and a season average of 7.41. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Simone Saporetti 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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.73, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad15 Mar 2027
10 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Alessandro Nunziante has given nobody the chance.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Mattia Guarneri
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A season average of 7.34 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match6 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Ospitaletto's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ospitaletto has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marcello Possenti and Ospitaletto agree another 2 years.
Match6 Mar 2027
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Simone Saporetti 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Arturo Villa 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ruggero Monti 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
Francesco Galuppini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Feb 2027
3 matches without a goal for Ospitaletto
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match27 Feb 2027
Union Brescia left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Gualandris 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
“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 dugout1 Mar 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Ospitaletto would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The plan did not have a place for Michel Panatti
Nobody at Ospitaletto 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 Feb 2027
“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 Ospitaletto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Feb 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Simone Saporetti 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Lumezzane left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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 dugout22 Feb 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 2027
There were 10 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Saporetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Ospitaletto asked and Belgrano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match13 Feb 2027
0‑2 to Vicenza, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match13 Feb 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
No hiding place for Cristo
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cristo, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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 0‑2 Roberto Vignali left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Getting past Alessandro Nunziante has become the hardest job in the division
8 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.34 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.39 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match6 Feb 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ospitaletto have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Francesco Galuppini 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 targets8 Feb 2027
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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Domenico Pellegrini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match6 Feb 2027
Lecco made Ospitaletto work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Matteo Gualandris 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Mattia Guarneri
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Squad
A place in the month's best eleven for Martin Georgiev
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
“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 Ospitaletto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Martin Georgiev, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.12 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Luca Maffioletti: 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.” Ospitaletto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Ospitaletto close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 0 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.36 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with LOSC Lille, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match30 Jan 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ospitaletto have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Francesco Galuppini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.22, and nobody on the pitch better.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The deal with Lecce 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.34 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad25 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Simone Saporetti 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Ospitaletto asked and Monza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Inter: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A brace, and Simone Saporetti takes the afternoon — 9.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Simone Saporetti provided it, and the 9.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Martin Georgiev, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ospitaletto have done the hard part with Inter, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Renate. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Empoli have kept their man, and Ospitaletto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match16 Jan 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Simone Saporetti’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ospitaletto.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Gualandris 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 2027
“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 Ospitaletto, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match9 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad11 Jan 2027
14 goals and a season average of 7.32. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Saporetti 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marco Vitale is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ospitaletto can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Ospitaletto will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.19 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match2 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
13 goals and a season average of 7.30. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Saporetti 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Roma have kept their man, and Ospitaletto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Michel Panatti 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 ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Dec 2026
A 2-goal lead gone for Ospitaletto
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Dolomiti Bellunesi kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Ospitaletto will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match26 Dec 2026
4 matches without a win for Ospitaletto
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ospitaletto are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Dec 2026
12 goals and a season average of 7.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Matteo Gualandris 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 dugout28 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Simone Saporetti 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
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Bertoli, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ospitaletto. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alessandro Torri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Martin Georgiev 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Simone Saporetti 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luigi Bernardi 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.24 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match12 Dec 2026
Ospitaletto rescue it on 94 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 94. Novara had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Mattia Guarneri
“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.
Match12 Dec 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The 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.” Roberto Vignali chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Francesco Galuppini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matteo Gualandris and Ospitaletto agree another 4 years.
Match5 Dec 2026
Cittadella left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Matteo Gualandris 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 dugout7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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 dugout7 Dec 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 Roberto Vignali left the room before anybody could ask which.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Wages eat 89% of everything Ospitaletto earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Something was said to Gabriele Mondini and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Simone Saporetti 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
0‑2 to AlbinoLeffe, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
10 goals and a season average of 7.21 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout30 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Roberto Vignali to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“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 Ospitaletto will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 9.87, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Ospitaletto right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Saporetti 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Ospitaletto. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Marco Bertoli
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Nov 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Trento, and it could have been more.
Squad16 Nov 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.82 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad16 Nov 2026
There were 7 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Francesco Galuppini 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 terraces16 Nov 2026
At 19 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Gualandris 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Ospitaletto signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.76 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Francesco Galuppini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Saporetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Simone Saporetti. 2‑1 against Giana Erminio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market9 Nov 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Armando Barone is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Gobbi, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Ospitaletto will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The plan did not have a place for Marco Bertoli
Nobody at Ospitaletto 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings2 Nov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Saporetti 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 dugout2 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 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.” Roberto Vignali chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match31 Oct 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Alcione Milano defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Looking ahead2 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Claudio Messaggi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ospitaletto needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market2 Nov 2026
The name of Simone Saporetti keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ospitaletto say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Martin Georgiev: 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.” Ospitaletto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match24 Oct 2026
It had gone 9 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Three points for Ospitaletto, 1‑0 the final word against Arzignano in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Matteo Gualandris 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad26 Oct 2026
12 new faces, and Ospitaletto 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
Something was said to Claudio Messaggi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Ospitaletto's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ospitaletto has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alessandro Nunziante is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Simone Saporetti 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Union Brescia left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Oct 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Ospitaletto will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Michele Casali delivers — 7.04
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Michele Casali scored, was marked 7.04, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Francesco Galuppini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Luca Sonzogni is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Saporetti 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ciro Parisi 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Gobbi, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
Match10 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match3 Oct 2026
7 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.
Squad5 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Bertoli, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Nessi 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Francesco Galuppini had Ospitaletto level again within 1 minutes, and Vicenza never got to play with a lead at all.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 96% of the Ospitaletto income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match3 Oct 2026
It needed Francesco Galuppini to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Vicenza, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Sep 2026
0‑3 against Reggiana, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
A cup hiding at Reggiana leaves Ospitaletto explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Match26 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Saporetti 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
1‑2 to Lecco, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 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.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Ospitaletto
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ospitaletto are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Francesco Galuppini 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
3 matches without a goal for Ospitaletto
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Saporetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Bevilacqua, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Ospitaletto will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Silvio Vannucci 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Carlo Lombardi 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Triestina left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Nessi 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mattia Guarneri, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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
Cristo wants out of the dugout
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Ospitaletto will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Ospitaletto close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 0 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Martin Georgiev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Simone Saporetti 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Ospitaletto asked and Santos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Alessandro Nunziante 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Sep 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Ospitaletto know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Roberto Vignali was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Ospitaletto dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Saporetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
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
Too much change too quickly at Ospitaletto
12 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to OH Leuven: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Luca Sonzogni
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
Francesco Galuppini 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 targets24 Aug 2026
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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Galuppini, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Ospitaletto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Nessi 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Slavia Prague 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Ospitaletto say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Francesco Galuppini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Saporetti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Francesco Galuppini 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Ospitaletto asked and Banfield said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gerardo De Santis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Giorgio Casella 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sergio Pellegrino 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gregorio Pellegrini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Boca Juniors: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ospitaletto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marcello Possenti commits to Ospitaletto for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 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 Ospitaletto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riccardo Nessi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Marco Bertoli’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Ospitaletto 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.