“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.10 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Rodrigo Ureña has agreed terms with Deportivo Pasto for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The fee is $410.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Independiente Medellin drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
“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 The request is on a desk at Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Barranquilla had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Millonarios people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Millonarios have gone to Andorra with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Independiente Medellin have accepted the money. What Millonarios do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Santander have kept their man, and Millonarios go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Millonarios have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
José Luis Caicedo 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.
$350.0K was the most the club would pay and Deportes Tolima were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kevin Tamayo wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Independiente Medellin waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
America de Cali have accepted the money. What Millonarios do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. America de Cali have kept their man, and Millonarios go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
A 1‑0 win over Patriotas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léider Berrío 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.75 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Andrey Estupiñán 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.
Squad27 May 2030
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ruiz 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrés Llinás, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 May 2030
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.” George Barnes, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.09 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Daniel Ruiz 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. David Lemos had Millonarios level again within 3 minutes, and Jaguares never got to play with a lead at all.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Millonarios told Jaine Barreiro something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Position 3, 37 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Daniel Ruiz 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Millonarios and Fortaleza CEIF in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Andrey Estupiñán 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 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Santiago Giordana and Millonarios agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 May 2030
Daniel Ruiz 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Millonarios dressing room in a hurry
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.
Andrey Estupiñán 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.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Daniel Ruiz 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.
Marked 8.63 — 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.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Millonarios hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Daniel Ruiz 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.
A brace, and John Córdoba takes the afternoon — 8.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. John Córdoba provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
José Luis Caicedo 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 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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Daniel Ruiz 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Jhonier Salas scored in the 88th minute, Atletico Bucaramanga had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Millonarios took the lot.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Andrey Estupiñán 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kevin Tamayo wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑0 win over Atletico Bucaramanga, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
0‑4 to Leones, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Millonarios will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Léider Berrío 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑4 defeat, delivered by George Barnes to a room that had heard them before.
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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.69 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ruiz 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.74 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jhoan Hernández and Millonarios agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Andrés Llinás wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Léider Berrío 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” George Barnes after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.19 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ruiz 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.
A 1‑0 win over Deportivo Cali, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Lautaro Belleggia 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Rodríguez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.
José Luis Caicedo 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.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ruiz 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Daniel Ruiz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léider Berrío was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Marked 7.49 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Millonarios had the best player on the pitch.
Squad18 Feb 2030
5 new faces, and Millonarios 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.47 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Andrey Estupiñán 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kevin Tamayo wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
500 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Daniel Ruiz 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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Real Cartagena will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Andrey Estupiñán 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 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.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ruiz 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.
A brace, and John Córdoba takes the afternoon — 8.37
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. John Córdoba provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Rodríguez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Léider Berrío 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, George Barnes could afford to be generous.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for David Lemos
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
8 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Daniel Ruiz 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Sergio Murillo 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.
A date was given and it came and went. Nobody upstairs will call it a broken promise, and nobody downstairs will call it anything else for a long time.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alex Moreno Paz and Millonarios agree another 4 years.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Patriotas moved on, Jhon Riascos reports back to Millonarios, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Millonarios will try again when the window opens; America de Cali may not be selling by then.
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.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ruiz 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.
Lautaro Belleggia 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sebastián Mosquera and Millonarios agree another 4 years.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Millonarios are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Millonarios will try again when the window opens; Santa Fe may not be selling by then.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Deportes Quindio waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Millonarios had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Wolfsberger AC, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Andrés Llinás wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Add another name to the list: Patriotas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jhon Riascos. The answer from Millonarios has not changed — yet.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léider Berrío 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.
Millonarios and Santa Fe have settled on $21.0M. 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Deportivo Cali waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
Millonarios have gone to America de Cali with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Orles Aragón will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Porto is saying, and nobody at Millonarios is enjoying the guessing.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Brian Nievas is living that version at Millonarios, and it tends to show in the first month.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Jaguares waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luis Mina is living that version at Millonarios, and it tends to show in the first month.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Deportes Tolima waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Deportes Quindio for David Rodríguez 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Daniel Ruiz wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Millonarios had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Zagreb, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Moscow have kept their man, and Millonarios go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léider Berrío was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Valledupar had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportes Tolima have kept their man, and Millonarios go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Patriotas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jhon Riascos. The answer from Millonarios has not changed — yet.
Spartak Moscow 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.
Millonarios have made the call to Dinamo Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jaine Barreiro and Millonarios agree another 2 years.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kevin Tamayo wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ruiz 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.
Millonarios asked and Cesena said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Deportes Quindio have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about David Rodríguez. The answer from Millonarios has not changed — yet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jhoan Hernández trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutAlex Moreno Paz has become a man the manager trusts
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuel Martín will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Daniel Ruiz 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 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rafael Rodriguez 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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léider Berrío 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.
Nobody at Millonarios 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.
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 Juan José Ramírez has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jordan Ferrín trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Millonarios lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Daniel Ruiz 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Samuel Martín wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Nobody at Millonarios will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Léider Berrío was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Léider Berrío trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniel Ruiz signs something — a contract at Millonarios or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Andrés Llinás wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Peñaloza, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alex Moreno Paz 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.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Millonarios lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Daniel Ruiz 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Léider Berrío wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Jhon Riascos 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Millonarios, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until John Córdoba signs something — a contract at Millonarios or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Edinson Largacha is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. John Córdoba wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Ureña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutJuan Peñaloza has become a man the manager trusts
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Orles Aragón will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Jhon Riascos 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.
Nobody at Millonarios 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniel Ruiz signs something — a contract at Millonarios or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Daniel Ruiz 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.
9 goals in one match, David Lemos on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Millonarios and Deportes Quindio.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Daniel Ruiz 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 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.
A season average of 7.21 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stiven Vega 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Daniel Ruiz 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Millonarios scored in the 96th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Orles Aragón will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Daniel Ruiz 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Daniel Ruiz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Millonarios pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Once Caldas scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Ureña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Santa Fe spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Andrés Llinás wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Ruiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Millonarios people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Léider Berrío wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Daniel Ruiz 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. John Córdoba wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Daniel Ruiz wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
José Luis Caicedo 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.
300 appearances across 16 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportes Tolima have kept their man, and Millonarios go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuel Martín will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal that would have taken Jhon Riascos to Deportes Quindio has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Millonarios with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Daniel Ruiz 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Independiente Medellin moved on, Jordan Ferrín reports back to Millonarios, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Iván Díaz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Out, 1‑3 to America de Cali, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Millonarios people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
Millonarios close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 10 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
John Córdoba 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Millonarios have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 8.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Millonarios people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuel Martín will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Millonarios asked and Deportes Tolima 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 offer from Independiente Medellin for Orles Aragón 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Zagreb is saying, and nobody at Millonarios is enjoying the guessing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrey Estupiñán and Millonarios agree another 2 years.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Millonarios people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
Deportes Tolima have accepted the money. What Millonarios do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Millonarios hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Millonarios had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Zagreb, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Millonarios people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Universitatea Craiova is saying, and nobody at Millonarios is enjoying the guessing.
Jaine Barreiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Daniel Ruiz 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.
Marked 6.94 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
A 1‑0 win over Independiente Medellin, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Millonarios have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Daniel Ruiz wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Jaine Barreiro 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 phone has started ringing about Samuel Martín again, and this time the name on the line is Atletico Nacional. Millonarios are listening politely and promising nothing.
Envigado will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Millonarios were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Iván Díaz had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Everything agreed with Deportivo Cali, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
$28.0K was the most the club would pay and Depor were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
In brief
SquadWords at Millonarios training over how hard people work
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
Andrey Estupiñán 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CFR Cluj have kept their man, and Millonarios go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Daniel Ruiz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
SquadWords at Millonarios training over how hard people work
The dugoutJavier Burrai dropped after a run of poor form
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and David Lemos obliged against Envigado. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Millonarios.
Two goals and a mark of 9.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
4 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Millonarios heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jaine Barreiro and Millonarios agree another 2 years.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: John Córdoba. 2‑1 against America de Cali, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.11 — 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.
A brace, and Daniel Ruiz takes the afternoon — 9.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Ruiz provided it, and the 9.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniel Ruiz. 2‑1 against Once Caldas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alex Moreno Paz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Ureña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alex Moreno Paz wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jhon Riascos commits to Millonarios for another 5 years.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by George Barnes to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Kevin Tamayo's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Andrey Estupiñán 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Ureña 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.
200 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” George Barnes after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jordan Ferrín did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jhoan Hernández 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.
John Córdoba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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.
Jaine Barreiro 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 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.
Match31 Mar 2029
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Millonarios. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Ureña 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, George Barnes could afford to be generous.
A brace, and Daniel Ruiz takes the afternoon — 9.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Ruiz provided it, and the 9.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Millonarios hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Ureña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 95, against Atletico Bucaramanga, 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.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Millonarios lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 9.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniel Ruiz. 3‑2 against Deportivo Pereira, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wuilker Fariñez, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
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.” George Barnes, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
Player ratingsKevin Tamayo beats them one at a time
SquadWords at Millonarios training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Ureña 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.
Marked 8.30 — 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.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Millonarios lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jhomier Guerrero and Millonarios agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: John Córdoba. 3‑1 against Jaguares, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Marked 8.22 — 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.
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 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Barranquilla will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Jordan Ferrín, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Day 37 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Andrey Estupiñán 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Millonarios lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Millonarios can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Rodrigo Ureña 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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 words a physio says slowly. 61 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Daniel Ruiz wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Independiente Medellin left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Rodrigo Ureña 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Stiven Vega
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Millonarios lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Millonarios heard it as anything else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. John Córdoba wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
José Luis Caicedo 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.
7.73, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Millonarios had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad5 Feb 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for John Córdoba
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. John Córdoba has come out of that comparison in the side, and Millonarios have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
76 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Millonarios lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
9 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Envigado left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Rodrigo Ureña 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Francisco Santos left the room before anybody could ask which.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Real Cartagena kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Millonarios will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolás Gil wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
In brief
Boardroom5 academy graduates step up at Millonarios
The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
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 Jhomier Guerrero is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and John Córdoba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Millonarios would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Millonarios lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Samuel Martín wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Rodrigo Ureña 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 Jan 2029
Stiven Vega is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Millonarios, and both men came out saying it was fine.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Millonarios lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and America de Cali waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportes Tolima have kept their man, and Millonarios go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Jaine Barreiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Ureña 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Juan Pablo Gallego has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Millonarios lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Millonarios heard it as anything else.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Viktoria Plzen is saying, and nobody at Millonarios is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Jorge Arias 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Millonarios, and 6 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 125 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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danovis Banguero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Juan Carlos Pereira has agreed terms with Junior for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
José Luis Caicedo 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.
Millonarios asked and Penarol 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Millonarios will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alex Moreno Paz wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
In brief
SquadRodrigo Ureña falls out with a teammate over standards
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Millonarios will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Millonarios have done the hard part with Deportes Tolima, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Juan Pablo Gallego has, at Millonarios, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The offer went to Leones this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Spartak Moscow is saying, and nobody at Millonarios is enjoying the guessing.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Millonarios will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrey Estupiñán and Millonarios agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolás Gil wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Millonarios, and 6 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Millonarios 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and John Córdoba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Millonarios will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Arias 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.
Nobody at Millonarios 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Millonarios, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Millonarios will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Arias 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jordan Ferrín is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Jorge Arias 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.
“I did not go to Deportes Tolima to sit and watch. I want to come back to Millonarios and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Millonarios 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stiven Vega trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Millonarios money.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Questions about Luis Marimón on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Jaine Barreiro 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorge Arias was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Jhomier Guerrero is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Millonarios, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Santiago Grella has, at Millonarios, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Jaine Barreiro 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 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.
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.
Nobody at Millonarios 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrey Estupiñán trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 7 on 57 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Daniel Ruiz wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to John Córdoba, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Arias 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.
Successful dribbles: 42. 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. John Córdoba wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Andrey Estupiñán 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.
Something was said to Jaine Barreiro and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jordan Ferrín is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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 Jaine Barreiro is on it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nicolas Santos after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
A brace, and Daniel Ruiz takes the afternoon — 8.44
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Ruiz provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
8 goals in one match, Edinson Largacha on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Millonarios and Llaneros.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Ureña 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.
In brief
Player ratingsLuis Marimón was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lautaro Belleggia has, at Millonarios, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
America de Cali left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Ureña 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Jorge Arias 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Once Caldas had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The manager has not finished forgetting Stiven Vega's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
0‑1 to Santa Fe, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Ureña 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
In brief
BoardroomThe Millonarios board find $12.7M for the manager
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Jaine Barreiro 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Rodrigo Ureña 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.
“I watch every Millonarios game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Maritzburg United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nicolas Santos on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Arias 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.
Andrey Estupiñán 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 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Gil 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Millonarios has been clear about where Danovis Banguero stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 Millonarios, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Junior will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Kevin Pérez has pre-agreed a move to Millonarios, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Jorge Arias 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.