Jonathan Buatu 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Iano Simão 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Penafiel can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Penafiel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Hugo Pinto after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Two goals and a mark of 9.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deal that would have taken Raúl Alcaina to Portimonense has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Penafiel with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.66 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Jonathan Buatu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Moreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Penafiel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Raúl Alcaina 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benfica have kept their man, and Penafiel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Sá was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.64 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Penafiel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Sporting CP, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Player ratingsClau Mendes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The terracesPenafiel spend $1.2M on the signing the town wanted
Penafiel and Gil Vicente have settled on $1.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Max Svensson has gone, the accounts have $900.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The name of Raúl Alcaina has come up in conversations Penafiel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Braga paid $900.0K and Penafiel took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Penafiel asked and Porto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clau Mendes 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daniel Mota is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Penafiel can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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. Penafiel will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Feirense were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Raúl Alcaina 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.
Penafiel asked and Portimonense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Àlex Carbonell
Raúl Alcaina 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 Dec 2026
Max Svensson 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.
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Penafiel had all but put away. Vizela will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
Penafiel are taken apart by Nacional — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rúben Alves is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Adrián Pica will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Penafiel escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.57 for the rest of it.
Rúben Alves 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.
Roberto had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Maritimo were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roberto provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Raúl Alcaina 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.
500 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Sá 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.56 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rúben Alves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Penafiel had all but put away. Chaves will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Benfica B the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Penafiel will enjoy reviewing.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.84 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Rúben Alves was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Penafiel will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
8 goals in one match, Roberto on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Penafiel and Leiria.
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.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Iano Simão was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Raúl Alcaina 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Francisco Costa is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
David Moreira and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The 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.
A point taken on 85 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Lusitânia Lourosa will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Rúben Alves was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Hugo Pinto could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutWelligton dropped after a run of poor form
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Oliveirense were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad19 Oct 2026
David Moreira 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Hugo Pinto kept it short after the 4‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pedro Barbosa is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nuno Sousa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Ubierna was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
17 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Porto B the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Penafiel will enjoy reviewing.
Two goals and a mark of 9.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Ubierna was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Moreira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hugo Pinto was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Penafiel dressing room was either.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Farense? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Porto B next, and one man in the Penafiel dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
“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.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
1‑4 against Felgueiras, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
$1.2M was the most the club would pay and Casa Pia were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
Lamine Bèye 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad14 Sep 2026
17 new faces, and Penafiel 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Àlex Carbonell's mistake
Two goals and a mark of 9.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 24 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Penafiel have gone to Casa Pia 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Botafogo is saying, and nobody at Penafiel is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Penafiel had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Boca Juniors, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Penafiel asked and São Paulo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
1‑2 to Vizela, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Penafiel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamín Ubierna 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hugo Pinto after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Pedro Sá scored, was marked 7.72, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Pedro Henrique 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.
$120.0K was the most the club would pay and Benfica were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Penafiel will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Two goals and a mark of 9.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Penafiel offered $510.0K; Torreense 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.
$130.0K on the table at Famalicao. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Penafiel asked and Shakhtar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
14 new faces, and Penafiel 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 offer from Feirense for Madi Queta was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Famalicao keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The offer went to Torreense this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Penafiel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Paulo Costa is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Miguel Ferreira 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Simao Sousa 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Penafiel training over how hard people work
The shirt still fits. Roberto is back at Penafiel, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Raúl Alcaina 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.
Penafiel asked and Flamengo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Sá was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Penafiel will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Penafiel, another week without a signature from Roberto.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.