Marked for Luis Muriel
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market27 Sep 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.
Market27 Sep 2027
Only the photograph left for Harold Rivera
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harold Rivera will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Junior the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Junior can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Junior
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alfredo Morelos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead27 Sep 2027
Top-of-the-table clash for Junior
Deportivo Cali next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alfredo Morelos, and the manager let it.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Marked 7.41. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Mauro Silveira has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Junior 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Sep 2027
1‑0 against Nacional, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Francisco Fydriszewski was at the centre of the description.
Market20 Sep 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 The request is on a desk at Junior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.08, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market20 Sep 2027
Only the photograph left for Jesús Rivas
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jesús Rivas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Junior the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mauro Silveira, and the manager let it.
Match18 Sep 2027
Atletico Nacional left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Alfredo Morelos 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
10 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
In brief
-
The dugout
The team sheet said everything about Éder Balanta
-
Player ratings
Daniel Rivillo's mistake decides it
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 Sep 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 Junior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market6 Sep 2027
Only the photograph left for Fabián Ángel
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabián Ángel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Junior the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Junior may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match4 Sep 2027
After 6 games, Junior finally taste it again
The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Deportivo Pasto; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Match4 Sep 2027
0‑2 to Deportivo Pasto, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Junior
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alfredo Morelos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Junior
Luis Muriel 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A month that belonged to José Cavadia
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Junior who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad23 Aug 2027
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Junior lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market23 Aug 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 Junior can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match21 Aug 2027
Junior cannot stop winning
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Age has not caught Éder Balanta yet — 8.11
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market23 Aug 2027
Jesús Rivas has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Junior they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match21 Aug 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Junior. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match21 Aug 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Éder Balanta. 3‑2 against Deportivo Pereira, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Aug 2027
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Junior lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match7 Aug 2027
3‑0, and Michael Ortega took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Junior tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market9 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 Junior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Santiago Castro out for 26 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Junior will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
A brace, and Michael Ortega takes the afternoon — 8.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michael Ortega provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.20, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market9 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Junior is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match7 Aug 2027
Nobody wants to play Junior right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Fabián Ángel has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2027
Alfredo Morelos damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Criciuma waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Junior is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market2 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 Junior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market2 Aug 2027
Millonarios come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Junior did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.17, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Junior is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Junior asked and Bogota said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Jul 2027
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Junior lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Jul 2027
45 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match17 Jul 2027
Whatever happens, Junior do not lose
12 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.
Market19 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 Junior can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jul 2027
Torreense come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Junior did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market19 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Junior is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets19 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Guillermo Paiva. 2‑0 against Millonarios, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jun 2027
82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Junior lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match19 Jun 2027
4‑0, and Luis Muriel took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Junior tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
A brace, and Luis Muriel takes the afternoon — 9.20
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luis Muriel provided it, and the 9.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market21 Jun 2027
Fabián Ángel 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 Junior can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets21 Jun 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Only the photograph left for Kevin Pérez
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kevin Pérez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Junior the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match19 Jun 2027
Junior make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Junior have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Marked 8.18 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Cristian Barrios was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Jun 2027
89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Junior lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match12 Jun 2027
No mercy from Junior
Patriotas will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Junior were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market14 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Junior people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market14 Jun 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.39, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market14 Jun 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 Junior can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
Supporters turn on the $1.4M sale of Déiber Caicedo
He is going to Atletico Nacional, the club has $1.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market14 Jun 2027
Junior say no — this time
The offer from Alianza Petrolera for Fabián Ángel was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Age has not caught Luis Muriel yet — 7.89
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 May 2027
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Junior lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad31 May 2027
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market31 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Junior is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout31 May 2027
Sebastián Macías: 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.” Junior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 May 2027
Luis Muriel 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 Junior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 May 2027
Late, late show earns Junior a point
Minute 87, against America de Cali, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Match31 May 2027
Halfway: Junior sit in position 7
28 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Match29 May 2027
It needed Yohandry Orozco to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against America de Cali, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Junior lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match15 May 2027
Junior caught on 95 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Independiente Medellin scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
The dugout17 May 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 dugout17 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Luis Falcao was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Junior dressing room was either.
The dugout17 May 2027
Éder Balanta 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 Éder Balanta is on it.
Looking ahead17 May 2027
A test against the best for Junior
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Deportivo Cali.
Looking ahead17 May 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Luis Muriel’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Junior needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 128 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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Age has not caught Luis Muriel yet — 8.30
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.30 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Jhon Navia runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Harold Rivera
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harold Rivera will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Junior the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Marked 8.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Market10 May 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Yeison Moreno has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Junior.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Juan David Ríos
“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
Squad3 May 2027
135 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Junior lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match1 May 2027
No end in sight to Junior's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Junior has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings3 May 2027
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.26, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market3 May 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.
Market3 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Junior is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout3 May 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.
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Junior
Juan David Ríos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Nobody left the Junior dressing room in a hurry
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Squad
Déiber Caicedo named in the team of the month
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Apr 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Junior
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Matías Lozano, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market12 Apr 2027
Harold Rivera has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Junior they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mauro Silveira and Junior agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market12 Apr 2027
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Luis Muriel 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 Junior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Apr 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Jean Carlos Pestaña has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Junior.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Apr 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 Junior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.91, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market5 Apr 2027
Only the photograph left for Fabián Ángel
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabián Ángel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Junior the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match3 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Junior
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market5 Apr 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 Junior can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jeffersson Martínez commits to Junior for another 2 years.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Junior
Jean Carlos Pestaña 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 ratings5 Apr 2027
Déiber Caicedo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Éder Balanta
“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
Upbeat
Match6 Mar 2027
Still nobody has beaten Junior
The unbeaten run reaches 16. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market8 Mar 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 Junior, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout8 Mar 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Junior is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Muriel and Junior agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Junior
Jean Carlos Pestaña 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Guillermo Paiva. 1‑0 against Millonarios, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Junior prefer.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Marked 7.88. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match20 Feb 2027
No mercy from Junior
Envigado will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Junior were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A brace, and Luis Muriel takes the afternoon — 9.85
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luis Muriel provided it, and the 9.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad22 Feb 2027
23 days out for Armando Vargas after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Junior will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market22 Feb 2027
Jermein Peña 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 Junior can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Age has not caught Michael Ortega yet — 8.44
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.44 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The dugout22 Feb 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Junior make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Junior have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Junior
Luis Muriel 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 ratings22 Feb 2027
Matías Lozano ran the middle of the pitch — 6.91
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.91, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match13 Feb 2027
Whatever happens, Junior do not lose
11 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Fabián Ángel 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 Junior can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Feb 2027
Harold Rivera has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Junior they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Luis Muriel 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 Junior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Feb 2027
A 2‑1 win over Real Cartagena, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Appearance number 100 for Jhon Navia
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout15 Feb 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Luis Falcao: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Juan David Ríos
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Junior lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Armando Vargas out for 38 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Junior will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market8 Feb 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 Junior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match6 Feb 2027
Still nobody has beaten Junior
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Luis Muriel, 35, rolls back the years — 8.32
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.32 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market8 Feb 2027
Fabián Ángel has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Junior they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Feb 2027
41 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market8 Feb 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Guillermo Paiva wants continental football; whether Junior can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match6 Feb 2027
Three points for Junior, 1‑0 the final word against Deportes Quindio in a contest settled by the finer margins.
In brief
-
The dugout
No hiding place for Jesús Rivas
-
Squad
A place in the month's best eleven for Yeison Moreno
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Juan David Ríos damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Junior and Atletico Nacional have settled on $4.7M. 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.
Market4 Jan 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 Junior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Jan 2027
Kevin Pérez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Junior they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Junior
Luis Muriel 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 dugout4 Jan 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Junior will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Éder Balanta slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Éder Balanta is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Junior lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Junior
Luis Muriel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Luis Muriel 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Junior told Francisco Fydriszewski something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout16 Nov 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Junior. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Junior would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Market16 Nov 2026
The name of Guillermo Paiva keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Junior say nothing, which says plenty.
Market16 Nov 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Nov 2026
Junior do the business in Europe
1‑1. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Junior came through the finding-out well against Juventud.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Junior
Francisco Fydriszewski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A move Daniel Rivillo would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Daniel Rivillo is living that version at Junior, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match6 Nov 2026
Late, late show earns Junior a point
Minute 93, against Juventud, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Luis Muriel left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Luis Muriel will call it something else in private.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Yimmi Chará 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 Yimmi Chará is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Oct 2026
“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 Junior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.35, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market12 Oct 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Match10 Oct 2026
Jaguares made Junior work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yeison Moreno, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Luis Falcao, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Yimmi Chará 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 Yimmi Chará is on it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Junior will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
After 12 games, Junior finally taste it again
The first defeat in 12 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Deportivo Cali; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Yimmi Chará yet — 7.92
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market28 Sep 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mauro Silveira wants continental football; whether Junior can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Junior's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Junior has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Luis Muriel 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 Junior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Teo Gutiérrez
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
14 new faces, and Junior are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Sep 2026
Junior make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Junior have 5 straight wins of it.
Match5 Sep 2026
Junior keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pablo Ortiz. 1‑0 against Union Magdalena, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jeffersson Martínez is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
-
Squad
The armband comes off Luis Muriel
-
Squad
Teo Gutiérrez moves up the pecking order
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Aug 2026
Junior march on in the cup
Deportes Tolima are out and Junior go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.20, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Luis Muriel, 35, rolls back the years — 9.09
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.09 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Estrela da Amadora had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Match29 Aug 2026
Junior make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Junior have 4 straight wins of it.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market31 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jannenson Sarmiento wants continental football; whether Junior can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jannenson Sarmiento and Junior agree another 4 years.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Francisco Fydriszewski’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Junior.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.19, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.84, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Aug 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Match22 Aug 2026
Still nobody has beaten Junior
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match22 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Francisco Fydriszewski’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Junior.
In brief
-
Player ratings
Déiber Caicedo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
-
The dugout
The manager makes an example of José Enamorado
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Junior
A 4‑0 win over Barranquilla, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Yohandry Orozco, 35, rolls back the years — 8.22
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.22 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Junior supporters have found a favourite in Miller Bacca
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Miller Bacca 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.51, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Luis Falcao: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The formation has left Armando Vargas behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Junior will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
No place in the plan for Luis Muriel
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Market17 Aug 2026
At 37, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mauro Silveira commits to Junior for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Luis Muriel 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 Junior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Junior can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Independiente Medellin will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Enzo Larrosa has pre-agreed a move to Junior, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mateo Castillo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Johan Cuadrado has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Ivan Santos joins the Junior first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ivan Santos is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Guillermo Paiva. 1‑0 against Aguilas Doradas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Aug 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Muriel and Junior agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Junior
Luis Muriel 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
America de Cali made Junior work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 8.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Junior
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Luis Falcao: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
Squad3 Aug 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.