Marked for David Murillo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
106 days out for Dairon Asprilla after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atletico Nacional will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kevin Cataño had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad11 Jan 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 Nacional this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market11 Jan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and César Haydar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Andrés Román 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 Andrés Román is on it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Edwin Cardona asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market11 Jan 2027
The clock runs on Kilian Toscano's contract
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Andrés Reyes has been promised minutes
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 Andrés Reyes has written the date down.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Atletico Nacional may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Franco Armani 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Dairon Asprilla 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Franco Armani has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Atletico Nacional 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.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
Kevin Cataño’s loan is measured in nothing happening
6 clean sheets from 10 appearances at Al-Ittihad. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes Milton Casco a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Atletico Nacional. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Cristian Arango and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout19 Oct 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ismael Páez commits to Atletico Nacional for another 2 years.
The dugout19 Oct 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.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
Kevin Cataño’s loan is measured in nothing happening
5 clean sheets from 7 appearances at Al-Ittihad. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Milton Casco has been promised minutes
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 Milton Casco has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 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 Nacional this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
7.74, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Atletico Nacional had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Murillo commits to Atletico Nacional for another 2 years.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Sergio Diaz on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The form table has caught Milton Casco
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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Gustavo Torres 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 Gustavo Torres trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Franco Armani 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 terraces14 Sep 2026
He is 23 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Atletico Nacional 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.59 on the card, and the Atletico Nacional support went home talking about one name.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
César Haydar 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
Gustavo Torres dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Half-satisfied: Sergio Diaz 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.