Madelón after 0-2 v Gimnasia: «It hurts, we expected more»

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Radio Gol

·1 August 2026

Madelón after 0-2 v Gimnasia: «It hurts, we expected more»

Unión de Santa Fe’s coach analyzed the 2-0 defeat against Gimnasia de Mendoza in a press conference. Despite the result, the head coach highlighted his team’s performance, questioned the penalty awarded through VAR, and sent a message of calm looking ahead.

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The flow of the game and the lack of finishing

Madelón felt the match was evenly contested and that his team had spells of good football that they couldn’t turn into goals:

“We had 25 or 30 very good minutes in the first half. It was an end-to-end match. If we had struck early, maybe we could have unsettled them.”

“Whoever scored was going to win. We hit the woodwork twice, missed two or three one-on-ones. That’s part of football. Rigamonti made some very good saves too, and so did Mansilla. In a match like this, at least both teams took risks, and Gimnasia ended up taking everything.”

The penalty controversy and the use of VAR

The head coach did not hide his displeasure over the penalty awarded to the opposing side at the end of the first half:

“At the end of the first half they scored from a penalty... For me, it’s one of those ‘not a penalty’ calls, but sometimes they give them, and it changed things a little.”

“I didn’t see it... everyone told me: those are penalties that shouldn’t be given, those little ‘soft penalties,’ you know, they shouldn’t be called. I wouldn’t like that to be given in our favor either, to be honest. Football is something else for me... The referee didn’t give the penalty, VAR called him over and then he awarded it. It’s a ‘soft penalty,’ there’s no head, no hand, no intention. I’m upset about that.”

Calm, the opposing goalkeeper’s performance, and the transfer window

Asked about the lack of cutting edge in front of goal, the coach preferred to stay level-headed and appreciate the team’s approach:

“We have to stay calm and composed. I look at how the team functions, and in the first half Unión functioned well. When a team functions well, it’s because it played simply, understood the strategy for dealing with the opponent, and created chances.”

“We have to keep insisting. Keep insisting, resisting, persisting, never let up. There’s enough here; it’s a healthy, good, dynamic team. Unión plays, takes the initiative, so we’re not just focusing on the result.”

Finally, Madelón referred to the close of the transfer window and the squad’s restructuring:

“The club was able to get its finances back in order, apparently things were sorted out and they managed to lift the transfer bans. The boys looked for a different future, and that’s fine. Now we have to rebuild ourselves again, put things together again.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.