Rafael Murillo

Striker - Estudiantes de Caracas
3 Dec 2026
Thursday
Process

Marked for Rafael Murillo

15 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Estudiantes de Caracas do the business in Europe

1‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Estudiantes de Caracas came through the finding-out well against Botafogo.

Squad

Victor Rincon 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 Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Rafael Murillo

A mark of 7.85, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

Squad

When it matters, Gabriel Andrade plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

Words at Estudiantes de Caracas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Osorio 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

The team sheet said everything about Yeferson Cordova

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 Yeferson Cordova.

In brief

Back issues
8 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Estudiantes de Caracas do the business in Europe

2‑1. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Estudiantes de Caracas came through the finding-out well against Once Caldas.

Player ratings

A defender's goal wins it for Estudiantes de Caracas — 7.43

1 for Junior Soteldo, marked 7.43, 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Estudiantes de Caracas

Victor Rincon 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

Nobody could get near Daniel Ferraresi

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

Player ratings

Rafael Murillo takes the honours

Marked 7.91 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Estudiantes de Caracas had the best player on the pitch.

Squad

When it matters, Rafael Machis plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Squad

Junior Soteldo is off the mark for Estudiantes de Caracas

The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.

Squad

Rafael Murillo finally opens his account

He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Estudiantes de Caracas have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.

Boardroom

Estudiantes de Caracas were not finished after all

Written off a fortnight ago, the squad has closed ranks and answered on the pitch. Something was said behind that door, and so far it is holding.

In brief