Marked for César Quintero
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
80 days out for Nicolas Cardona after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atletico Bucaramanga will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
Market8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Aldair Quintana 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Fabián Sambueza 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Jefferson Mena
“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 dugout8 Feb 2027
“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 dugout8 Feb 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
88 days out for Nicolas Cardona after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atletico Bucaramanga will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market1 Feb 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Market1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
César Quintero in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Squad1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Jefferson Mena 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 dugout1 Feb 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Deportivo Cali left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Squad21 Dec 2026
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Atletico Bucaramanga have had the benefit of it.
Market21 Dec 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Emerson Batalla wants continental football; whether Atletico Bucaramanga can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Flamengo is saying, and nobody at Atletico Bucaramanga is enjoying the guessing.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Aldair Quintana 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Atletico Bucaramanga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson Mena 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.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
Atletico Bucaramanga asked and Talleres 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 dugout21 Dec 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.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
San Luis have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Aldair Quintana 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Fabián Sambueza 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Aldair Zárate knocks on the manager's door
“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.
The dugout23 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Atletico Bucaramanga. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Atletico Bucaramanga will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 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 Atletico Bucaramanga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Atletico Bucaramanga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Ortiz 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Felipe Mejia 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.
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad9 Nov 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Martín Payares knocks on the manager's door
“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.
Market9 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Aldair Gutiérrez has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Atletico Bucaramanga may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Luciano Pons pulls a muscle — 16 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Market19 Oct 2026
José Ortiz wants European nights
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Aldair Quintana 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Jefferson Mena 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Londoño, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Something was said to Fabián Sambueza and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market19 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Atletico Bucaramanga know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Aldair Zárate pops up at the right end — 7.84
7.84, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Match10 Oct 2026
8 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.
Squad12 Oct 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 Atletico Bucaramanga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Atletico Bucaramanga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. César Quintero 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Atletico Nacional held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Atletico Bucaramanga answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martín Payares, and the manager let it.
Match10 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.19, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
At 38 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.88, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Aldair Quintana 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Atletico Bucaramanga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. César Quintero 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aldair Gutiérrez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Sep 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.” Fabian Sanchez, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Aldair Zárate knocks on the manager's door
“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
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Aldair Zárate pops up at the right end — 7.61
7.61, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Market31 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Emerson Batalla wants continental football; whether Atletico Bucaramanga can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match29 Aug 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Atletico Bucaramanga are no longer polite ones.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer from Oliveirense for Goor Córdoba Mena 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Fabián Sambueza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Atletico Bucaramanga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. César Quintero 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.
The dugout31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
13 new faces, and Atletico Bucaramanga 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
Uneasy
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
Match19 Aug 2026
Deportivo Cali go through and Atletico Bucaramanga go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match22 Aug 2026
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Once Caldas kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Atletico Bucaramanga will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.66, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
1 for Fabry Castro, marked 7.74, 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. José Ortiz wants continental football; whether Atletico Bucaramanga can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Trento for Stiven Rentería 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.
Squad24 Aug 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 Atletico Bucaramanga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Atletico Bucaramanga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Ortiz 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Leonardo Flores wants continental football; whether Atletico Bucaramanga can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emerson Batalla and Atletico Bucaramanga agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Fabián Sambueza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luciano Pons was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emerson Batalla, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luis Gonzalez 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
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nicolas Cardona 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
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oscar Quintero 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.