Marked for Daniel Bianchi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Dec 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atletico Bucaramanga people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market6 Dec 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Atletico Bucaramanga, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets6 Dec 2027
Atletico Bucaramanga asked and Independiente Medellin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Daniel Bianchi 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 dugout6 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cristian Ludueña, and the manager let it.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
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.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atletico Bucaramanga, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad6 Dec 2027
The formation has left Brayan Castro behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Atletico Bucaramanga will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market6 Dec 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Atletico Bucaramanga, another week without a signature from Cristian Ludueña.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Nov 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 Atletico Bucaramanga can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Daniel Bianchi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A muscle injury sidelines José Luís Sanabria for 18 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Atletico Bucaramanga will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martín Rea, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
When it matters, José Ortiz 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.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atletico Bucaramanga, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
42 days out for Brayan Blandón after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cortulua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market15 Nov 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 Cortulua can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Cortulua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Torres 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Santiago Gómez 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
Duvan Cordoba has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Cortulua will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Breiner Paz
“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.
Market15 Nov 2027
The name of Duvan Cordoba keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Cortulua say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A wage question at Cortulua
Nicolas Ramirez has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Diego Arrieta knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Diego Arrieta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Nov 2027
49 days out for Brayan Blandón after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cortulua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Jan Vega signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jan Vega and Cortulua agree another 2 years.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Jan Vega 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cortulua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Juan David Delgado
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Juan David Delgado has come out of that comparison in the side, and Cortulua have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
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.
Market8 Nov 2027
The name of Alfredo Montero keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Cortulua say nothing, which says plenty.
Loan watch8 Nov 2027
14 appearances away from home and 6 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Market8 Nov 2027
The shop window has César Horst in it
Cortulua have let the market know César Horst can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market18 Oct 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Aldair Zárate goes up and wins it — 7.62
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 7.62 for the rest of it.
Match16 Oct 2027
1‑2 to Envigado, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Daniel Bianchi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
José Ortiz has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Atletico Bucaramanga will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Sep 2027
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Atletico Bucaramanga are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market27 Sep 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Atletico Bucaramanga can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Match25 Sep 2027
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Atletico Bucaramanga can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad27 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atletico Bucaramanga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 Sep 2027
0‑2 to Deportes Quindio, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market27 Sep 2027
Martín Rea is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Atletico Bucaramanga has been clear about where Martín Rea stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Jefferson Castillo to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Agudelo
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atletico Bucaramanga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market30 Aug 2027
“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 Atletico Bucaramanga, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Luis Caicedo: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atletico Bucaramanga have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market30 Aug 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Atletico Bucaramanga will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Match28 Aug 2027
Junior left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atletico Bucaramanga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Agudelo
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atletico Bucaramanga lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market23 Aug 2027
Aldair Zárate hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atletico Bucaramanga can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Up for the corner, and Aldair Zárate delivers — 7.55
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Aldair Zárate scored, was marked 7.55, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match21 Aug 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Martín Rea 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 dugout23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Félix Charrupí, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2027
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atletico Bucaramanga lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match7 Aug 2027
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Atletico Bucaramanga has to find a result from somewhere.
Market9 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Daniel Bianchi 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 dugout9 Aug 2027
“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.
Match7 Aug 2027
0‑1 to Atletico Nacional, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Leonardo Flores will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Jul 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 Atletico Bucaramanga can pretend not to have heard.
Match10 Jul 2027
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Atletico Bucaramanga are no longer polite ones.
Match10 Jul 2027
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Deportivo Cali waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Atletico Bucaramanga is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Fee done, terms next for Gali Balanta
Atletico Bucaramanga and Deportes Tolima have settled on $130.0K. 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.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Daniel Bianchi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Cortulua
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Torres was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Cortulua
Kevin Martinez 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Carlos Mosquera
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Diego Arismendi and Cortulua agree another 1 years.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Half-satisfied: Diego Bacca on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting David Montero's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Duvan Cordoba gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Duvan Cordoba is on it.
Match13 Mar 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Deportivo Pasto defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cortulua have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
The paperwork begins on Kevin Pérez
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Cortulua have done the hard part with Junior, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” César Horst and Cortulua agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Cortulua
Santiago Gómez 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.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
A loan enquiry to Atletico Nacional: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.