Vélez U20

19 Nov 2026
Thursday
Process
16 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Taddeo Alfaro

16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vélez lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Tempers go at Vélez

Emanuel Mammana 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.

Squad

Manuel Lanzini 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

Back issues
15 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Taddeo Alfaro damages knee ligaments — 24 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

Emanuel Mammana in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Vélez training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Lanzini 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.

In brief

14 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Taddeo Alfaro damages knee ligaments — 31 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 31 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Diego Valdés wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Vélez hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Words at Vélez training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Romero 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.

In brief

13 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Taddeo Alfaro damages knee ligaments — 38 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

Tomás Marchiori keeps Vélez in it on his own

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.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Manuel Lanzini yet — 8.88

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Match

8 unbeaten for Vélez

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Vélez did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Emanuel Mammana in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Vélez training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Lanzini 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.

Match

Vélez find a way past Talleres

Talleres made Vélez work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Emanuel Mammana

Marked 8.89 — 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 ratings

One of those days for Florián Monzón

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.57, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

12 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Braian Romero out for 16 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Lucas Robertone

Defensive actions: 24. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Squad

Tempers go at Vélez

Emanuel Mammana 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.

Match

7 unbeaten for Vélez

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Vélez did not have in the autumn.

Player ratings

Matías Pellegrini runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Yoel Marchi 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.

Squad

Manuel Lanzini 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.

Match

Florián Monzón the difference as Vélez beat Deportivo Riestra

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Florián Monzón. 1‑0 against Deportivo Riestra, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Elías Gómez takes the honours

Marked 7.82 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Vélez had the best player on the pitch.

In brief

11 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Braian Romero out for 25 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Álvaro Montero

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.

Player ratings

Manuel Lanzini, 33, rolls back the years — 8.49

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.49 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Emanuel Mammana in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ignacio Cellerino is a better footballer than he was

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.

Market

Elías Gómez wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Vélez

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.

Player ratings

Emanuel Mammana was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.46. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Player ratings

Diego Valdés was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.00. 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.

In brief

10 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Braian Romero out for 32 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Vélez throw away a 2-goal lead

2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Estudiantes the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Vélez will enjoy reviewing.

Squad

Tomás Marchiori keeps Vélez in it on his own

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Diego Valdés

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Vélez may not be able to give Diego Valdés what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Diego Valdés wants continental football; whether Vélez can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Lautaro Piola is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Vélez

Emanuel Mammana 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 ratings

One of those days for Emanuel Mammana

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.66, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Florián Monzón at his very best

Marked 8.38. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Vélez.

In brief

9 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Braian Romero out for 41 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Emanuel Mammana wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Emanuel Mammana in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Vélez training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Lanzini 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.

Squad

Manuel Lanzini gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Player ratings

Matías Pellegrini was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.82. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Player ratings

Emanuel Mammana in the eights

A performance of 8.77 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Manuel Lanzini

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Matías Pellegrini rescues a point for Vélez

It needed Matías Pellegrini to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Lanús, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

In brief

8 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Braian Romero breaks a bone — 49 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Lucas Robertone

Defensive actions: 28. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Player ratings

Elías Gómez shuts the door

Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Manuel Lanzini

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Lucas Robertone in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Vélez get the job done against Platense

A 1‑0 win over Platense, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Words at Vélez training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imanol Machuca is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

Imanol Machuca in the eights

A performance of 8.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

No hiding place for Claudio Baeza

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Claudio Baeza, and the manager let it.

In brief

7 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Braian Romero breaks a bone — 56 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Diego Valdés runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words at Vélez training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Lanzini 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Vélez

Rodrigo Aliendro 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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Tomás Marchiori

“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.

Player ratings

Florián Monzón was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.10. 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.

Market

Vélez and Florián Monzón are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Match

Honours even between Vélez and Boca Juniors

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

Player ratings

Manuel Lanzini keeps on missing

Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.

In brief

6 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Braian Romero breaks a bone — 65 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Vélez bow out of the cup

Godoy Cruz go through and Vélez go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Tomás Marchiori

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Tempers go at Vélez

Emanuel Mammana 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.

Squad

Manuel Lanzini 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 ratings

Nobody could get near Manuel Lanzini

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Boardroom

Wages eat 126% of everything Vélez 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.

Market

Vélez and Manuel Lanzini are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Player ratings

Emanuel Mammana was immovable

17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.

In brief

5 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Braian Romero out for 73 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Matías Pellegrini sends Vélez through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Matías Pellegrini obliged against San Telmo. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Vélez.

Match

Matías Pellegrini wins it after the whistle should have gone

110 minutes played. Matías Pellegrini found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and San Telmo went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Player ratings

Lucio Valdez could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.89

Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.89, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Tobías Andrada

28 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Marcelo Camargo at 21 — 7.82

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marcelo Camargo did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Emanuel Mammana in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Alex Verón

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Kokand 1912 watching Tobías Andrada

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Vélez have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

In brief

4 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Braian Romero breaks a bone — 81 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Álvaro Montero is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Álvaro Montero: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

Match

Vélez through in the cup

A 0‑0 win over Defensores Unidos, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Player ratings

A debut Santiago Uriza will not forget — 7.26

There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.26 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Lisandro Magallán

Defensive actions: 30. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Player ratings

Manuel Lanzini, 33, rolls back the years — 8.58

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.58 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Match

No end in sight to Vélez's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vélez has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Imanol Machuca

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at Vélez

Emanuel Mammana 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.

In brief

3 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Braian Romero breaks a bone — 90 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Emanuel Mammana in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Vélez training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Lanzini 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.

In brief

2 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Braian Romero breaks a bone — 98 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Tomás Marchiori

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.

Market

Diego Valdés wants more than Vélez are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Emanuel Mammana signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emanuel Mammana and Vélez agree another 4 years.

Squad

Emanuel Mammana in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Imanol Machuca

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Vélez may not be able to give Lisandro Magallán what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Lisandro Magallán wants continental football; whether Vélez can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Market

Talks stall between Vélez and Florián Monzón

“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.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Emanuel Mammana

14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.

In brief

1 Edition

The Vélez Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Braian Romero out for 106 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Vélez will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Vélez turn down Palermo for Diego Valdés

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Emanuel Mammana raises the bar for Vélez

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Vélez heard it as anything else.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Lucas Robertone

Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.

Squad

Lucas Robertone in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vélez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Vélez may not be able to give Elías Gómez what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Elías Gómez wants continental football; whether Vélez can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Braian Romero signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Braian Romero commits to Vélez for another 2 years.

Squad

Manuel Lanzini 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 ratings

Nobody could get near Matías Pellegrini

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief