Fabian Arias

Attacking Midfielder (C) - Alianza Petrolera
9 Oct 2027
Saturday
Process

Marked for Fabian Arias

62 Edition

The Alianza Petrolera Herald

4 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Fabian Arias stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Fabian Arias and Alianza Petrolera agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Match

Alianza Petrolera are at home on the road

4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.

Squad

Brian Murillo 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Alianza Petrolera

Pablo Perez 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

Alianza Petrolera find a way past Millonarios

Millonarios made Alianza Petrolera work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Brian Murillo

13 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

One of those days for Jose Moreno

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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Carlos Quintero

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Boardroom

$2.6M on the table at Alianza Petrolera

The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.

In brief

Back issues
58 Edition

The Alianza Petrolera Herald

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Tempers go at Alianza Petrolera

Salvador Ichazo 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

Brian Murillo 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

Whatever happens, Alianza Petrolera do not lose

6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

Brian Murillo is carrying Alianza Petrolera

13 goals and a season average of 7.24. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Jose Moreno the difference as Alianza Petrolera beat Deportivo Pereira

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jose Moreno. 2‑0 against Deportivo Pereira, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Fabian Arias 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

Francisco Gonzalez 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

Richard Barrios was immovable

19 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.

Boardroom

$2.6M on the table at Alianza Petrolera

The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.

In brief

52 Edition

The Alianza Petrolera Herald

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Julian Duque signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Julian Duque commits to Alianza Petrolera for another 4 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Alianza Petrolera

Salvador Ichazo 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

Brian Murillo 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

A bad afternoon for Alianza Petrolera against Atletico Nacional

2‑3 to Atletico Nacional, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Juan Castillo

“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

Brian Murillo in the eights

A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Loan watch

Victor Perez wants to come home

“I did not go to Deportes Quindio to sit and watch. I want to come back to Alianza Petrolera and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 30 matches say the rest.

Player ratings

Julian Duque runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Off the pace: Camilo Charris

A mark of 5.31 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.

In brief

37 Edition

The Alianza Petrolera Herald

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Santiago Lopez damages knee ligaments — 82 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 82 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

Tempers go at Alianza Petrolera

Salvador Ichazo 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

Fabian Arias among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Fabian Arias on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Alianza Petrolera and Jaguares.

Squad

Brian Murillo 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

One of those days for Julian Duque

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Honours even between Alianza Petrolera and Jaguares

3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

32 Edition

The Alianza Petrolera Herald

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Duvan Ramirez damages knee ligaments — 44 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 44 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

Salvador Ichazo 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 Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Alianza Petrolera training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brian Murillo 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

Fabian Arias signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fabian Arias and Alianza Petrolera agree another 2 years.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Richard Barrios

17 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

Nobody could get near Julian Duque

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Jose Moreno could have had three

5 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.

Loan watch

Victor Perez counts the days

“I watch every Alianza Petrolera game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Deportes Quindio runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Market

Still no ink between Alianza Petrolera and William Delgado

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Alianza Petrolera, another week without a signature from William Delgado.

In brief

11 Edition

The Alianza Petrolera Herald

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

A hiding for Alianza Petrolera

Beaten 0‑3 by Independiente Medellin, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Match

Alianza Petrolera leaking at the back

5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Squad

Brian Murillo 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 Julian Duque

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

Squad

Tempers go at Alianza Petrolera

Pablo Perez 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

No hiding place for Fabian Arias

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

In brief