Marked for Nicolas Restrepo
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Mar 2028
13 unbeaten for Leones
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Leones did not have in the autumn.
Match18 Mar 2028
Leones win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Depor will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad20 Mar 2028
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.
Market20 Mar 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Sebastián Herrera wants continental football; whether Leones can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Leones
Juan Sebastián Herrera 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Felipe Gómez 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 ratings20 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces20 Mar 2028
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match18 Mar 2028
Leones get the job done against Depor
A 1‑0 win over Depor, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Sep 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Kevin Tamayo 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 Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Germán Meneses 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 May 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 Leones can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 May 2027
A one-man rearguard from Lucas Cuffia
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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
An order from above at Leones: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad3 May 2027
Lucas Cuffia 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 Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Germán Meneses 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 terraces3 May 2027
Leones supporters have found a favourite in Johan Muñoz
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Johan Muñoz 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 ratings3 May 2027
Johan Muñoz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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 ratings3 May 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leones will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 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 Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolas Restrepo commits to Leones for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leones will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Leones
Germán Meneses 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The name of Juan Diego Arboleda has come up in conversations Leones were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Juan Felipe Hincapié 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
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Leones has been clear about where Juan Felipe Hincapié stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nicolas Restrepo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.