Millonarios U18

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19 Jan 2031
Sunday
Process
233 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

13 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

The Deportivo Cali deal is off

Everything was agreed until it was not, and Santiago Giordana reports back to Millonarios with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Enzo Larrosa what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Enzo Larrosa wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Market

Jesus Borja has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

Enzo Larrosa signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Enzo Larrosa and Millonarios agree another 4 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Transfer targets

Brayan Moreno stays at Atletico Nacional as time runs out

A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Millonarios will try again when the window opens; Atletico Nacional may not be selling by then.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Enzo Larrosa

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Emerson Batalla

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Millonarios told Emerson Batalla something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

In brief

Back issues
232 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

6 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Enzo Larrosa says Millonarios went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Santiago Giordana agrees terms with Deportivo Cali

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.

Market

Cristian Alomía hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Market

John Córdoba wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

John Córdoba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Jorge Sanguina deal

Millonarios ran out of time with Junior. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Market

Eyes on Iván Díaz again

The phone has started ringing about Iván Díaz again, and this time the name on the line is Bogota. Millonarios are listening politely and promising nothing.

The dugout

Enzo Larrosa has become a man the manager trusts

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.

In brief

231 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

30 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Jesus Borja has said yes to Bogota

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.

Transfer targets

Millonarios agree $350.0K for Jorge Sanguina

The clubs have shaken hands with Junior; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Market

Juan Pablo Gallego hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Millonarios turn down Jaguares for Samuel Martín

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Millonarios count the cost of losing Wuilker Fariñez

22 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Daniel Ruiz what he wants

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.

Squad

José Luis Caicedo in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

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.

The dugout

When it matters, José Luis Caicedo plays

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.

In brief

230 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

23 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for David Contreras

15 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.

Market

Santiago Cuero has said yes to Santa Fe

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.

The dugout

Jaine Barreiro says Millonarios went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Samuel Martín hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Brayan Moreno

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Millonarios have done the hard part with Atletico Nacional, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Market

Only the photograph left for Santiago Giordana

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Giordana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Market

José Luis Caicedo raises the bar for Millonarios

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

José Luis Caicedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

In brief

229 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

16 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Jhomier Guerrero out for 19 days

19 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.

Boardroom

Millonarios book their European place

Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.

Match

A European lesson for Millonarios

0‑1 against Universidad de Chile. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.

Market

Samuel Martín has said yes to Patriotas

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.

Market

Iván Díaz says no to Valledupar

“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.

Market

Jordan Ferrín’s move to Independiente Medellin falls through

The deal that would have taken Jordan Ferrín to Independiente Medellin 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.

Market

Jesus Borja has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Squad

John Córdoba is carrying Millonarios

13 goals and a season average of 7.30. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

In brief

228 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

9 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jhomier Guerrero

27 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.

Market

Santiago Giordana has said yes to America de Cali

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.

Market

Brian Nievas asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Bogota come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Millonarios did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Néider Ospina wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

Jhomier Guerrero 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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 dugout

Néider Ospina asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

The dugout

When it matters, Léider Berrío plays

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.

In brief

227 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

2 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Jhomier Guerrero out for 34 days

34 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 dugout

Néider Ospina says Millonarios went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Match

Millonarios come up short in Europe

0‑2 away to the standard of Newell's Old Boys. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.

Market

Santiago Giordana asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

José Luis Caicedo in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

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.

Market

Bogota join the queue for Iván Díaz

Add another name to the list: Bogota have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Iván Díaz. The answer from Millonarios has not changed — yet.

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is carrying Millonarios

9 goals and a season average of 7.21. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Millonarios

Something was said to Wuilker Fariñez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

In brief

226 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

25 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Jhomier Guerrero out for 41 days

41 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 dugout

Luis Mina keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Millonarios may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Only the photograph left for Samuel Martín

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Squad

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.

Squad

David Lemos out for 46 days

The medical room confirms 46 days on the sidelines for David Lemos, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

José Luis Caicedo gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say José Luis Caicedo is on it.

The dugout

Daniel Ruiz asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

The dugout

Malcom Palacios gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

225 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

18 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Jhomier Guerrero damages knee ligaments — 48 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 48 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

John Córdoba in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Market

Juan David Rueda has his eye on Europe

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 dugout

No hiding place for Juan David Rueda

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

The dugout

John Córdoba has become a man the manager trusts

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.

Market

The Daniel Ruiz question follows Millonarios around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Daniel Ruiz’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Enzo Larrosa asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Match

Millonarios have something to play for

Position 4 on 85 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.

In brief

224 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

11 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Jhomier Guerrero damages knee ligaments — 55 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.

Match

A European night to remember for Millonarios

3‑2 against Nacional, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.

Player ratings

David Lemos scores twice — 8.90

Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

The dugout

Javier Burrai says Millonarios went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Player ratings

Santiago Grella was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 25. 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.

Market

Jesus Borja has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

John Córdoba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Léider Berrío has a hand in both — 7.98

One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.98, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Léider Berrío what he wants

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.

In brief

223 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

4 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

José Luis Caicedo wants to know where this is going

“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.

Market

John Córdoba has his eye on Europe

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

John Córdoba 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.

Squad

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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jaine Barreiro

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Millonarios keep their word to Andrés Llinás

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.

Squad

Andrés Macea slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Andrés Macea is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

The dugout

When it matters, Enzo Larrosa plays

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.

Market

The John Córdoba question follows Millonarios around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with John Córdoba’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

222 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

28 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Millonarios do the business in Europe

1‑1. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Millonarios came through the finding-out well against Nacional.

Market

Samuel Martín hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Samuel Martín has one foot out of the door

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.

Market

Daniel Ruiz wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

José Luis Caicedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

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.

Squad

Juan David Rueda stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Juan David Rueda and Millonarios agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

José Luis Caicedo reaches 200 appearances

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.

The dugout

Daniel Ruiz left out for the big one

A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Daniel Ruiz will call it something else in private.

In brief

  • Player ratings John Córdoba was unplayable
  • The dugout Somebody else is better right now than Jaine Barreiro
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
221 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

21 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Jhomier Guerrero in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Juan Pablo Torres wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

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.

Squad

Juan David Rueda signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan David Rueda and Millonarios agree another 4 years.

The dugout

When it matters, John Córdoba plays

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.

Market

The Daniel Ruiz story refuses to die

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.

Match

Millonarios have something to play for

Position 4 on 85 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.

The dugout

Santiago Cuero knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Santiago Cuero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Juan David Rueda has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Juan David Rueda has written the date down.

In brief

220 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

14 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Jhoan Hernández damages knee ligaments — 14 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.

Match

Millonarios finish in position 4

85 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Market

Jesus Borja is on his way

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

John Córdoba 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Santiago Grella

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Kevin Tamayo what he wants

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Match

Millonarios find a way past Patriotas

Patriotas made Millonarios work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Andrey Estupiñán

“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.

In brief

219 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

7 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Jhoan Hernández damages knee ligaments — 22 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.

Match

Millonarios bow out of the cup

Santa Fe go through and Millonarios go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Player ratings

A brace, and John Córdoba takes the afternoon — 9.27

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. John Córdoba provided it, and the 9.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

A European lesson for Millonarios

0‑1 against Universidad de Chile. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.

Squad

Wuilker Fariñez stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Néider Ospina what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Néider Ospina wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

John Córdoba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

John Córdoba is carrying Millonarios

13 goals and a season average of 7.30. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

John Córdoba the difference as Millonarios beat Aguilas Doradas

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: John Córdoba. 2‑1 against Aguilas Doradas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

In brief

218 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

30 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Jhoan Hernández damages knee ligaments — 29 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Player ratings

John Córdoba was unplayable

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 dugout

Santiago Giordana says Millonarios went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Only the photograph left for Samuel Martín

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.

Squad

John Córdoba in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on John Córdoba

11 goals and a season average of 7.26 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Enzo Larrosa the difference as Millonarios beat Jaguares

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Enzo Larrosa. 1‑0 against Jaguares, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Enzo Larrosa

Marked 8.31 — 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.

In brief

217 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

23 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Jhoan Hernández damages knee ligaments — 36 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.

Match

A European night to remember for Millonarios

2‑2 against Newell's Old Boys, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.

Squad

6 saves: Wuilker Fariñez was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Player ratings

David Lemos, 35, rolls back the years — 7.99

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Samuel Martín asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Match

4 matches without a win for Millonarios

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Millonarios are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Match

Millonarios come up short against Junior

Junior left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

216 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

16 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Jhoan Hernández out for 43 days

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 dugout

Luis Marimón keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Millonarios may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

José Luis Caicedo wants more than Millonarios are offering

“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.

Market

Jesus Borja is on his way

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.

Squad

José Luis Caicedo in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Roberto Vanegas gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Roberto Vanegas has just signed for Millonarios, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

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.

Boardroom

Millonarios agree a free transfer for Jesús Gil

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

Match

A bad afternoon for Millonarios against Santa Fe

1‑2 to Santa Fe, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

In brief

215 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

9 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Jhoan Hernández out for 51 days

51 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.

Squad

Javier Burrai stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Only the photograph left for Lautaro Belleggia

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lautaro Belleggia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Market

Léider Berrío has his eye on Europe

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.

Squad

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.

Match

Millonarios come up short against Cortulua

Cortulua left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Match

After 6 games, Millonarios finally taste it again

The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Cortulua; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jaine Barreiro

“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.

In brief

214 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

2 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Jhoan Hernández damages knee ligaments — 58 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.

Match

Andrés Llinás leads the rout of Deportes Tolima

3‑0, and Andrés Llinás took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Millonarios tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Squad

A career in one shirt: Stiven Vega

17 seasons and 305 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.

Match

Nobody wants to play Millonarios right now

6 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.

Player ratings

Vintage Andrés Llinás — 8.45

At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.45, and nobody on the pitch better.

The dugout

Luis Marimón keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Millonarios may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Samuel Martín is on his way

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.

Market

John Córdoba wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

Jhomier Guerrero 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.

In brief

213 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

26 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

The knee: Jhoan Hernández out for 65 days

65 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.

Player ratings

Léider Berrío scores twice — 8.18

Two goals and a mark of 8.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

Millonarios cannot stop winning

5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Market

Samuel Martín puts it in writing

“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.

Market

Daniel Ruiz has his eye on Europe

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

José Luis Caicedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Millonarios are at home on the road

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

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Match

Léider Berrío the difference as Millonarios beat Deportivo Pasto

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Léider Berrío. 3‑2 against Deportivo Pasto, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

In brief

212 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

19 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Jhoan Hernández damages knee ligaments — 72 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 72 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Player ratings

Both of them Enzo Larrosa's — 9.51

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.51, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Both of them John Córdoba's — 8.35

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.35, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Santiago Grella was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 26. 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.

Match

Nobody wants to play Millonarios right now

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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Jesus Borja

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jesus Borja will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

José Luis Caicedo in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

John Córdoba among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, John Córdoba on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Millonarios and Atletico Bucaramanga.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Kevin Tamayo what he wants

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.

In brief

211 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

12 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Jhoan Hernández damages knee ligaments — 79 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.

Match

Millonarios up to position 3

67 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Market

Lautaro Belleggia has one foot out of the door

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.

Player ratings

Santiago Grella beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Néider Ospina wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Match

Millonarios cannot stop winning

3 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.

Boardroom

Millonarios to lose Lautaro Belleggia for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Lautaro Belleggia has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

John Córdoba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

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.

In brief

210 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

5 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Jhoan Hernández out for 88 days

88 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.

Squad

A career in one shirt: Andrés Llinás

15 seasons and 298 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.

Market

Samuel Martín has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

José Luis Caicedo signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” José Luis Caicedo commits to Millonarios for another 4 years.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Léider Berrío

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Market

Juan Pablo Torres has his eye on Europe

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.

Match

Millonarios find a way past La Equidad

La Equidad made Millonarios work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Juan Pablo Torres

Marked 8.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief

209 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

29 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jhoan Hernández

96 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.

Market

Samuel Martín puts it in writing

“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.

Player ratings

John Córdoba beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Freilin Moreno arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Freilin Moreno has, at Millonarios, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Market

José Luis Caicedo raises the bar for Millonarios

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

José Luis Caicedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Boardroom

Juan José Arias will join Millonarios for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Juan José Arias has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Millonarios have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

Match

Léider Berrío the difference as Millonarios beat Llaneros

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

In brief

208 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

22 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Jhoan Hernández out for 105 days

105 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.

Match

Cup progress for Millonarios

A 1‑1 win over America de Cali, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Match

Millonarios march on in the cup

America de Cali are out and Millonarios go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Market

Samuel Martín agrees terms with Patriotas

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.

Player ratings

A brace, and Jhonier Salas takes the afternoon — 8.26

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jhonier Salas provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Kevin Tamayo beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 8 in, 11 out at Millonarios

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Market

Jesus Borja has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

José Luis Caicedo in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

207 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

15 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Millonarios refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 57 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.

Market

Independiente Medellin come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Millonarios did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Jhon Riascos hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Juan David Cabezas is on his way

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Market

Léider Berrío has his eye on Europe

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 dugout

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news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side

Match

Juan Pablo Torres sends Millonarios past Deportivo Cali

It finished 2‑0, and it was Juan Pablo Torres’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Millonarios.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

In brief

206 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

8 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Terms done: Jhon Riascos is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Union Magdalena waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Millonarios turn down Barranquilla for Lautaro Belleggia

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Juan Sebastián Ostos puts it in writing

“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.

Market

John Córdoba has his eye on Europe

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.

Match

The run is over for Millonarios

9 matches without defeat, and then Independiente Medellin. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Player ratings

John Córdoba was unplayable

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Juan José Arias

Millonarios asked and Santa Fe said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Jaine Barreiro stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Jaine Barreiro and Millonarios agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

205 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

1 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Kevin Tamayo runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Samuel Martín hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Andrey Estupiñán, 36, rolls back the years — 8.10

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.

Match

9 unbeaten for Millonarios

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Millonarios did not have in the autumn.

Market

Samuel Martín has one foot out of the door

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.

Market

Daniel Ruiz has his eye on Europe

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.

Boardroom

Rodrigo Ureña signs for Deportivo Pasto while still at Millonarios

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.

Market

Malcom Palacios is a Millonarios player

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

José Luis Caicedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

In brief

204 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

24 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Andrey Estupiñán puts it in writing

“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.

Market

Not going: Lautaro Belleggia stays at Millonarios

“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.

Market

Jesus Borja agrees terms with Tigres

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.

Transfer targets

An offer of $4.2M for Nahuel Tenaglia

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.

Transfer targets

$410.0K settles it between the clubs for Malcom Palacios

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.

Market

Rodrigo Ureña is on his way

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.

Match

Whatever happens, Millonarios do not lose

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

Squad

Daniel Ruiz in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Millonarios rebuffed over Santiago Rey

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.

In brief

203 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

17 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Samuel Martín has said yes to Patriotas

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.

Market

Iván Díaz turns Valledupar down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

Player ratings

Andrey Estupiñán, 35, rolls back the years — 8.16

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.

Match

Millonarios make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Millonarios have 4 straight wins of it.

Market

Juan David Cabezas is on his way

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Millonarios walk away from Daniel Pedrozo

$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.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Kevin Tamayo what he wants

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.

The dugout

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In brief

202 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

10 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Millonarios tear Deportivo Pereira apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Deportivo Pereira, and it could have been more.

Match

Millonarios are in among the leaders

Position 2 and 47 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Player ratings

Both of them Juan Pablo Torres's — 8.39

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.39, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Terms done: Jhon Riascos is going

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.

Transfer targets

$1.7M settles it between the clubs for Cristian Iguarán

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.

Transfer targets

Millonarios rebuffed over Jan Franc Lucumí

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.

Market

Patriotas come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Millonarios did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Match

Millonarios keep winning on the road

6 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

Market

Denilson Mena asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

In brief

201 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

3 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Samuel Martín puts it in writing

“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.

Market

Millonarios turn down Independiente Medellin for Jordan Ferrín

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

Daniel Ruiz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Juan Pablo Torres has his eye on Europe

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.

Market

Andrey Estupiñán told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Andrey Estupiñán has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Millonarios.

Match

Millonarios get the job done against Patriotas

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.

Squad

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.

Squad

Juan Peñaloza signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Juan Peñaloza commits to Millonarios for another 3 years.

Player ratings

One of those days for John Córdoba

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

200 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

27 May 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Andrey Estupiñán, 35, rolls back the years — 8.75

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.

The dugout

Santiago Cuero says Millonarios went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Match

Millonarios keep winning on the road

5 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Squad

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.

Match

Andrey Estupiñán sends Millonarios past Aguilas Doradas

It finished 2‑1, and it was Andrey Estupiñán’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Millonarios.

Player ratings

One of those days for Daniel Ruiz

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.66, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

No hiding place for Andrés Llinás

“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 dugout

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.

In brief

199 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

20 May 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near John Córdoba

Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Age has not caught David Lemos yet — 8.09

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.

Market

David Rodríguez has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

Andrey Estupiñán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

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Squad

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.

Match

David Lemos answers Jaguares immediately

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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Lautaro Belleggia

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Jaine Barreiro

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.

In brief

198 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

13 May 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Cup progress for Millonarios

A 5‑3 win over Fortaleza CEIF, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Match

Millonarios tear Junior apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Junior, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Juan Pablo Gallego scores twice — 8.56

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.

Player ratings

Edinson Largacha scores twice — 8.15

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.

Match

Millonarios refuse to drop out of the race

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.

Player ratings

Jesus Borja, 17, steals the show — 7.61

Marked 7.61 at 17, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Market

Samuel Martín has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

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.

In brief

197 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

6 May 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Nowhere to hide for Millonarios

1‑4 against Santa Fe, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Squad

Wuilker Fariñez keeps Millonarios in it on his own

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Market

Léider Berrío wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Santiago Giordana stays put

“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.

Squad

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 dugout

No hiding place for Wuilker Fariñez

“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.

Player ratings

John Córdoba beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Santa Fe end the Millonarios run at 4

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

196 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

29 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A day Daniel Ruiz will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Match

Millonarios make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Millonarios have 4 straight wins of it.

Market

John Córdoba wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Squad

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.

Match

Daniel Ruiz sends Millonarios past Cortulua

It finished 3‑1, and it was Daniel Ruiz’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Millonarios.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Daniel Ruiz

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.

Looking ahead

Millonarios and Santa Fe meet at the summit

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.

Player ratings

John Córdoba in the eights

A performance of 8.26 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

  • Match No time for Cortulua to settle
  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Nicolás Gil
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
195 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

22 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Wuilker Fariñez stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Samuel Martín puts it in writing

“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.

Market

Daniel Ruiz has his eye on Europe

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.

Market

José Luis Caicedo wants to know where this is going

“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.

Market

David Rodríguez is on his way

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.

Match

Millonarios make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Millonarios have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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 dugout

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Match

Millonarios keep winning on the road

3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

In brief

194 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

15 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

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.

Match

Millonarios are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 28 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Player ratings

Age has not caught David Lemos yet — 8.00

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.

Market

Samuel Martín is on his way

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Market

Jhoan Hernández wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

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.

Match

John Córdoba sends Millonarios past Deportivo Pasto

It finished 3‑1, and it was John Córdoba’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Millonarios.

The dugout

Edinson Largacha gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

193 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

8 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Jhonier Salas breaks Atletico Bucaramanga hearts

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.

Squad

Diego Mina breaks a bone — 15 days out

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Kevin Tamayo what he wants

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Match

Millonarios get the job done against Atletico Bucaramanga

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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jaine Barreiro

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Player ratings

John Córdoba was the difference for Millonarios

Marked 7.95. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

The dugout

George Barnes: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

In brief

192 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

1 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Millonarios taken apart

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.

Squad

23 days out for Diego Mina after a fracture

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.

Player ratings

Kevin Tamayo was unplayable

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.

Squad

Daniel Ruiz in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Juan Pablo Torres has his eye on Europe

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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Jhomier Guerrero

“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.

Squad

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.

Boardroom

Inquest at Millonarios

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 dugout

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.

In brief

191 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

25 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Diego Mina breaks a bone — 30 days out

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.

Player ratings

Age has not caught David Lemos yet — 8.69

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.

Market

David Rodríguez is on his way

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

Andrey Estupiñán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

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Squad

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.

Match

Millonarios get the job done against La Equidad

A 3‑1 win over La Equidad, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of John Córdoba at his very best

Marked 8.11. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Millonarios.

Player ratings

Kevin Tamayo runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

190 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

18 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Tamayo

Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Andrey Estupiñán yet — 8.74

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.

Market

Samuel Martín asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Samuel Martín is on his way

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.

Squad

Andrey Estupiñán in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Squad

Jhoan Hernández stays put

“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.

Match

Millonarios get the job done against Llaneros

A 2‑0 win over Llaneros, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Match

Nobody wins at Millonarios

8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

In brief

189 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

11 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

Daniel Ruiz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Andrés Llinás what he wants

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.

Match

America de Cali take the points off Millonarios

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Andrés Llinás

“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.

Squad

Iván Díaz stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Iván Díaz and Millonarios agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Player ratings

Santiago Grella was unplayable

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.

The dugout

George Barnes faces the questions

“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.

The dugout

The form table has caught Sebastián Valencia

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.

In brief

188 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

4 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Lautaro Belleggia, 33, rolls back the years — 8.19

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.

Market

José Luis Caicedo wants more than Millonarios are offering

“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.

Squad

Wuilker Fariñez signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Wuilker Fariñez commits to Millonarios for another 3 years.

Market

Léider Berrío wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

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.

Match

Millonarios get the job done against Deportivo Cali

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Santiago Giordana

“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.

Boardroom

Millonarios release $12.0M for the manager

The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.

In brief

187 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

25 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Millonarios march on in the cup

Bogota are out and Millonarios go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Player ratings

Jhon Riascos scores twice — 9.07

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.

Player ratings

Vintage David Lemos — 8.00

At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.00, and nobody on the pitch better.

Market

John Córdoba has his eye on Europe

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.

Market

Only the photograph left for David Rodríguez

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Squad

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.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Millonarios

The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Player ratings

Marco Iacobellis was unplayable

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.

In brief

186 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

18 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Samuel Martín asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Samuel Martín is on his way

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.

Market

Daniel Ruiz has his eye on Europe

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Player ratings

Kevin Tamayo was unplayable

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.

Player ratings

José Luis Caicedo takes the honours

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.

Squad

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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Juan Peñaloza

“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.

In brief

  • The dugout Somebody else is better right now than Sebastián Valencia
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • Squad The division's best last weekend was a Millonarios man
185 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

11 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

David Lemos takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Player ratings

Age has not caught David Lemos yet — 9.47

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.

Market

Nicolás Gil hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Nobody wants to play Millonarios right now

3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Player ratings

John Córdoba was unplayable

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Kevin Tamayo what he wants

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.

Squad

Jaine Barreiro reaches 500 appearances

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.

Squad

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.

In brief

184 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

4 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Millonarios win it in stoppage time

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.

Squad

Andrey Estupiñán signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andrey Estupiñán commits to Millonarios for another 1 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Market

Juan Pablo Torres wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

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.

Match

Santiago Grella sends Millonarios past Real Cartagena

It finished 2‑1, and it was Santiago Grella’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Millonarios.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Tamayo

Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Juan Pablo Torres at his very best

Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Millonarios.

Squad

A step back for Jaine Barreiro at Millonarios

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

In brief

183 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

28 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

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.

Market

Only the photograph left for David Rodríguez

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Market

Jhoan Hernández has his eye on Europe

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.

Match

Millonarios see off Deportivo Pereira

Three points for Millonarios, 2‑0 the final word against Deportivo Pereira in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for José Luis Caicedo

Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Squad

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 dugout

A satisfied George Barnes

“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 dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Sebastián Valencia

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

182 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

21 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Samuel Martín asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Samuel Martín is on his way

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Market

Marco Iacobellis is a Millonarios player again

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.

Boardroom

Graduation day at Millonarios

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.

Squad

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.

Market

Millonarios promote Sergio Murillo from within

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.

Boardroom

Millonarios let a promise lapse

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.

Squad

Alex Moreno Paz signs on for more

“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.

In brief

181 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

14 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Nicolás Gil asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

José Luis Caicedo wants more than Millonarios are offering

“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.

Market

So close: Jhon Riascos’s move dies late

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.

Transfer targets

Cristian Iguarán stays at America de Cali as time runs out

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.

Market

Léider Berrío wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Squad

Sebastián Mosquera signs on for more

“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.

Squad

No place for Juan Pablo Torres in the new shape

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.

In brief

180 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

7 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Juan José Ramírez puts it in writing

“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.

Transfer targets

Pedro de la Vega stays at Santa Fe as time runs out

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.

Market

Terms done: David Rodríguez is going

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.

Transfer targets

Deportes Tolima tell Millonarios: Jorge Sanchez is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Sankara Karamoko rejects the move

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

Daniel Ruiz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Andrés Llinás what he wants

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.

Market

Patriotas join the queue for Jhon Riascos

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.

Squad

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.

In brief

179 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

31 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Pedro de la Vega

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.

Market

Terms done: Samuel Martín is going

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.

Market

Rodrigo Ureña puts it in writing

“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.

Transfer targets

An offer of $1.8M for Cristian Iguarán

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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Orles Aragón

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.

Market

Valledupar come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Millonarios did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets

Trofim Melnichenko will not be coming to Millonarios

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Squad

A move Brian Nievas would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Brian Nievas is living that version at Millonarios, and it tends to show in the first month.

In brief

178 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

24 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Terms done: Juan José Ramírez is going

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.

Market

David Lemos asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

A move Luis Mina would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luis Mina is living that version at Millonarios, and it tends to show in the first month.

Market

Samuel Martín has one foot out of the door

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.

Market

John Córdoba wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Transfer targets

Atletico Nacional tell Millonarios: Róyner Benítez is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Squad

Luis Mina signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luis Mina commits to Millonarios for another 3 years.

In brief

177 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

17 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Terms done: Orles Aragón is going

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.

Market

Jefferson Romero hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Millonarios say no — this time

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.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Daniel Ruiz what he wants

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.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Ante Matej Jurić rejects the move

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.

Squad

Daniel Ruiz in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Millonarios rebuffed over Mykola Shaparenko

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Transfer targets

Millonarios try to borrow Pape Meïssa Bâ

LOSC Lille 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.

In brief

176 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

10 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Juan José Ramírez hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Alianza Petrolera come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Millonarios did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Not going: Iván Díaz stays at Millonarios

“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.

Transfer targets

Millonarios rebuffed over Jorge Sanchez

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

Jaine Barreiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Market

Patriotas join the queue for Jhon Riascos

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.

Transfer targets

Millonarios try to borrow Mykola Shaparenko

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.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Ante Matej Jurić is in the works

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.

In brief

175 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

3 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Daniel Mera asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Jaine Barreiro signs on for more

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Kevin Tamayo what he wants

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.

Squad

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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Lisandro Cabrera

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.

Market

Deportes Quindio join the queue for David Rodríguez

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.

Market

David Lemos told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” David Lemos has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Millonarios.

The dugout

Jhoan Hernández knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jhoan Hernández trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

174 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

26 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Only the photograph left for Samuel Martín

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.

Market

José Luis Caicedo wants more than Millonarios are offering

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Market

Jhoan Hernández wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Market

Rafael Rodriguez steps up from the Millonarios academy

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.

Squad

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.

The dugout

Edinson Largacha has become a man the manager trusts

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 dugout

Juan José Ramírez has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Juan José Ramírez has written the date down.

The dugout

Jordan Ferrín knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jordan Ferrín trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

173 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

19 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Sebastián Valencia out for 18 days

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.

Market

Iván Díaz has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

José Luis Caicedo in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

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.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Samuel Martín what he wants

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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Edinson Largacha

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Juan Peñaloza has become a man the manager trusts

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 dugout

Léider Berrío asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

José Luis Caicedo linked with a move away

The name of José Luis Caicedo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Millonarios say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

172 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

12 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Sebastián Valencia damages knee ligaments — 25 days out

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.

Market

José Mercado hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Orles Aragón has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

Jaine Barreiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

The dugout

Santiago Cuero gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

When it matters, David Lemos plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Léider Berrío knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Léider Berrío trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The Daniel Ruiz story refuses to die

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.

In brief

171 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

5 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Sebastián Valencia damages knee ligaments — 35 days out

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.

Market

Juan José Ramírez hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Juan José Ramírez has one foot out of the door

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 dugout

Santiago Cuero: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Andrés Llinás what he wants

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Juan Peñaloza

“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.

Squad

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.

Market

The Wuilker Fariñez question follows Millonarios around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Wuilker Fariñez’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

170 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

29 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Sebastián Valencia out for 43 days

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.

Market

Samuel Martín is on his way

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Léider Berrío what he wants

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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jaine Barreiro

“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.

Squad

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.

The dugout

Santiago Giordana knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Millonarios, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The John Córdoba story refuses to die

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.

The dugout

Edinson Largacha gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Edinson Largacha is on it.

In brief

169 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

22 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Sebastián Valencia damages knee ligaments — 50 days out

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.

The dugout

Jaine Barreiro: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Nicolás Gil hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give John Córdoba what he wants

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.

Market

Iván Díaz has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

Millonarios lose Gustavo Perez

33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Jaine Barreiro in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Stiven Vega

“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.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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

168 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

15 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

José Mercado puts it in writing

“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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Orles Aragón

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.

Market

Daniel Ruiz has his eye on Europe

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

Jaine Barreiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Léider Berrío signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Léider Berrío commits to Millonarios for another 4 years.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Javier Burrai

“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.

Squad

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.

The dugout

David Lemos has become a man the manager trusts

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.

Market

The Daniel Ruiz story refuses to die

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.

In brief

167 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

8 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Millonarios finish in position 6

69 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Player ratings

Both of them David Lemos's — 9.05

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.05, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Juan José Ramírez asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Juan José Ramírez is on his way

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.

Market

José Luis Caicedo wants more than Millonarios are offering

“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.

Match

Deportes Quindio take the points off Millonarios

Beaten 4‑5, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Match

David Lemos among the goals in a wild afternoon

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.

Market

Jhoan Hernández wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

In brief

166 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

1 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Millonarios lose Daniel Ruiz

45 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Tamayo

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Samuel Martín has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Market

Kevin Tamayo wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

John Córdoba is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.21 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

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.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Jhomier Guerrero

7.31, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Millonarios had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

The dugout

Millonarios keep their word to Jhoan Hernández

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.

In brief

165 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

24 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.81 with 35 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Market

Nicolás Gil hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Vintage Andrey Estupiñán — 8.74

At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.74, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

Wuilker Fariñez stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Iván Díaz has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

Jaine Barreiro in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

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.

Match

Daniel Ruiz sends Millonarios past Llaneros

It finished 2‑0, and it was Daniel Ruiz’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Millonarios.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Tamayo

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

164 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

17 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Daniel Ruiz

34 goals and a season average of 7.80 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Cruel end for America de Cali as Millonarios pounce

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.

Squad

A day Daniel Ruiz will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Market

José Mercado puts it in writing

“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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Orles Aragón

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Tamayo

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

Jaine Barreiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Daniel Ruiz at his very best

Marked 9.84. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Millonarios.

Match

Millonarios find a way past America de Cali

America de Cali made Millonarios work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.

In brief

163 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

10 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is carrying Millonarios

31 goals and a season average of 7.75. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Market

Juan José Ramírez asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Juan José Ramírez is on his way

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Player ratings

Kevin Tamayo beats them one at a time

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 ratings

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.

The dugout

No place for Jaine Barreiro on the big day

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.

Match

Millonarios caught on 87 minutes

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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

162 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

3 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is carrying Millonarios

30 goals and a season average of 7.74. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Millonarios leave it late against Santa Fe

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.

Squad

Wuilker Fariñez stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

The dugout

Santiago Cuero says Millonarios went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Samuel Martín has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Andrés Llinás what he wants

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Match

Millonarios find a way past Santa Fe

Santa Fe made Millonarios work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

In brief

161 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

27 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is carrying Millonarios

29 goals and a season average of 7.74. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Market

David Rodríguez agrees terms with Rotor

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.

Market

Nicolás Gil hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Iván Díaz has one foot out of the door

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.

Squad

Jaine Barreiro in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Léider Berrío what he wants

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.

Squad

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.

Match

Daniel Ruiz’s goal not enough for Millonarios

Daniel Ruiz scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Cortulua, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jhonier Salas

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

160 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

20 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.72 with 28 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

The dugout

Juan Peñaloza keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Millonarios may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

José Mercado hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Orles Aragón is on his way

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.

Market

José Luis Caicedo wants more than Millonarios are offering

“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.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give John Córdoba what he wants

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

Daniel Ruiz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Millonarios come up short against Deportes Tolima

Deportes Tolima left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Léider Berrío reaches 200 appearances

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.

In brief

159 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

13 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.71 with 27 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Player ratings

Both of them Daniel Ruiz's — 9.30

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.30, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Juan José Ramírez hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Juan José Ramírez has one foot out of the door

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 dugout

Alex Moreno Paz: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Match

Nobody wins at Millonarios

12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Daniel Ruiz what he wants

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Match

Millonarios see off Deportivo Pasto

Three points for Millonarios, 3‑1 the final word against Deportivo Pasto in a contest settled by the finer margins.

In brief

158 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

6 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Daniel Ruiz

25 goals and a season average of 7.67 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

Both of them Daniel Ruiz's — 9.42

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.42, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Stiven Vega has been here 16 seasons

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.

Transfer targets

Millonarios rebuffed over Jorge Sanchez

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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Samuel Martín

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.

Market

Jhon Riascos’s move to Deportes Quindio falls through

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Squad

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 dugout

Wuilker Fariñez gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

157 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

30 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Daniel Ruiz

23 goals and a season average of 7.62 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

Daniel Ruiz scores twice — 9.28

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.

Market

Nicolás Gil asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Player ratings

Andrey Estupiñán, 35, rolls back the years — 7.90

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 dugout

Orles Aragón says Millonarios went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

So close: Jordan Ferrín’s move dies late

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.

Match

Millonarios make home a hard place to visit

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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Iván Díaz

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.

Squad

Jaine Barreiro in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

156 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

23 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The small margins put Millonarios out

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.

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is carrying Millonarios

21 goals and a season average of 7.58. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Market

Iván Díaz agrees terms with Valledupar

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.

Market

Deportes Quindio come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Millonarios did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

José Mercado hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

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.

Player ratings

Kevin Tamayo beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Market

Independiente Medellin watching Jordan Ferrín

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Millonarios have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

In brief

155 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

16 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Andrey Estupiñán leads the rout of Jaguares

6‑2, and Andrey Estupiñán took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Millonarios tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Market

Juan José Ramírez hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Vintage Andrey Estupiñán — 10.00

At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 10.00, and nobody on the pitch better.

Market

Orles Aragón has said yes to Independiente Medellin

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.

The dugout

Santiago Giordana keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Millonarios may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Daniel Ruiz

20 goals and a season average of 7.55 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

A day Andrey Estupiñán will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Player ratings

John Córdoba scores twice — 8.24

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.

Market

Juan José Ramírez has one foot out of the door

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.

In brief

154 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

9 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Jordan Ferrín agrees terms with Deportes Tolima

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.

Player ratings

John Córdoba runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Lautaro Belleggia hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Samuel Martín keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Millonarios may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Only the photograph left for Samuel Martín

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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Jorge Sanchez

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.

Market

Millonarios say no — this time

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.

Transfer targets

Goran Pjaca will not be coming to Millonarios

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.

Squad

Andrey Estupiñán signs on for more

“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.

In brief

153 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

2 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Tamayo

Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Juan José Ramírez agrees terms with Deportes Quindio

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.

Market

Nicolás Gil puts it in writing

“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 dugout

Santiago Giordana says Millonarios went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is carrying Millonarios

19 goals and a season average of 7.51. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Transfer targets

$520.0K settles it between the clubs for Jeinner Fuentes

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.

Market

Orles Aragón has one foot out of the door

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.

Market

José Luis Caicedo wants to know where this is going

“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.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Ante Matej Jurić rejects the move

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.

In brief

152 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

25 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Samuel Martín agrees terms with Atletico Nacional

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.

Market

Sebastián Valencia hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Sérgio Mosquera turns Universitario Popayan down

“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.

Market

Deportes Tolima come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Millonarios did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets

Cosmin Dragusin will not be coming to Millonarios

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

Jaine Barreiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

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.

Player ratings

The game went through Daniel Ruiz — 6.94

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.

Match

Millonarios get the job done against Independiente Medellin

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.

In brief

151 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

18 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Orles Aragón has said yes to Independiente Medellin

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.

Market

José Mercado puts it in writing

“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.

Player ratings

Vintage David Lemos — 7.88

At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.88, and nobody on the pitch better.

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Daniel Ruiz what he wants

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Match

The run is over for Millonarios

8 matches without defeat, and then Atletico Nacional. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Market

Eyes on Samuel Martín again

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.

Match

Millonarios come up short against Atletico Nacional

Atletico Nacional left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Javier Burrai gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

150 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

11 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Millonarios make it 8 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Millonarios have 8 straight wins of it.

Match

No mercy from Millonarios

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.

Market

Iván Díaz says no to Valledupar

“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.

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is carrying Millonarios

18 goals and a season average of 7.51. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Market

Jordan Ferrín asks to leave Millonarios

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Transfer targets

Alejandro Rangel due for a Millonarios medical

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.

Market

John Córdoba wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Millonarios walk away from David Agudelo

$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

149 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

4 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Millonarios make it 7 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Millonarios have 7 straight wins of it.

Player ratings

Both of them Daniel Ruiz's — 9.31

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.31, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Juan José Ramírez puts it in writing

“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.

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is carrying Millonarios

17 goals and a season average of 7.48. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Player ratings

Kevin Tamayo beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Market

Kevin Tamayo wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Transfer targets

Millonarios rebuffed over Lisandru Olmeta

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.

Match

Daniel Ruiz sends Millonarios past Real Cartagena

It finished 2‑0, and it was Daniel Ruiz’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Millonarios.

In brief

148 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

28 May 2029
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Both of them Daniel Ruiz's — 9.38

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.38, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

Millonarios make it 6 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Millonarios have 6 straight wins of it.

Player ratings

Vintage Andrey Estupiñán — 7.84

At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.84, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.42 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Market

Nicolás Gil has his eye on Europe

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.

Match

Millonarios see off Deportes Quindio

Three points for Millonarios, 2‑0 the final word against Deportes Quindio in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

Daniel Ruiz reaches 50 goals

50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Edinson Largacha

Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

147 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

21 May 2029
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

John Córdoba leads the rout of Patriotas

3‑0, and John Córdoba took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Millonarios tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Tamayo

Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Rodrigo Ureña says Millonarios went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Match

Millonarios cannot stop winning

5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

Jaine Barreiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Daniel Ruiz

13 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Market

Santiago Cuero has his eye on Europe

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.

Player ratings

One of those days for John Córdoba

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 ratings

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 dugout The view from the dugout
  • Squad Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
  • The dugout Javier Burrai dropped after a run of poor form
146 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

14 May 2029
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

David Lemos sends Millonarios through

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.

Player ratings

Daniel Ruiz scores twice — 9.35

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.

Player ratings

Both of them David Lemos's — 9.28

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.28, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Tamayo

Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Nobody wants to play Millonarios right now

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.

Market

José Luis Caicedo raises the bar for Millonarios

“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.

Squad

José Luis Caicedo in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is carrying Millonarios

12 goals and a season average of 7.33. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Millonarios get the job done against Llaneros

A 2‑1 win over Llaneros, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

In brief

145 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

7 May 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Wuilker Fariñez

There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Juan José Ramírez puts it in writing

“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.

Squad

Jaine Barreiro signs on for more

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Match

John Córdoba the difference as Millonarios beat America de Cali

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.

Player ratings

Daniel Ruiz in the eights

A performance of 8.82 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Daniel Ruiz is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.25 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Tamayo

Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

A masterclass from John Córdoba

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.

In brief

  • The dugout No hiding place for Nicolás Gil
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout The form table has caught Javier Burrai
144 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

30 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Market

Andrés Llinás has his eye on Europe

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.

Squad

Nicolás Gil signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolás Gil commits to Millonarios for another 2 years.

Match

Daniel Ruiz the difference as Millonarios beat Once Caldas

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.

The dugout

Santiago Giordana gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

George Barnes: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.

Player ratings

Santiago Grella runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

In brief

143 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

23 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

Jaine Barreiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Daniel Ruiz’s goal not enough for Millonarios

Daniel Ruiz scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Santa Fe, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Rodrigo Ureña

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

Market

Millonarios may not be able to give Alex Moreno Paz what he wants

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.

Squad

Jhon Riascos signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jhon Riascos commits to Millonarios for another 5 years.

The dugout

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 dugout

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.

The dugout

Millonarios pick somebody else ahead of Santiago Cuero

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.

In brief

142 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

16 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

John Córdoba has his eye on Europe

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.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Millonarios

The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Tamayo

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

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.

Squad

Appearance number 200 for John Córdoba

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.

The dugout

Stiven Vega gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

George Barnes on the point

“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.

Looking ahead

Millonarios take on the side everybody is chasing

Santa Fe arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.

In brief

141 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

9 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Juan José Ramírez hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Jordan Ferrín at 21 — 7.64

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.

Market

Daniel Ruiz wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Player ratings

Kevin Tamayo was unplayable

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.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Millonarios

The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

The terraces

Millonarios supporters have found a favourite in Jhoan Hernández

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.

Match

Millonarios see off Deportes Tolima

Three points for Millonarios, 2‑0 the final word against Deportes Tolima in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

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.

In brief

140 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

2 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Market

Kevin Tamayo wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Match

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.

Match

Millonarios see off Deportivo Pasto

Three points for Millonarios, 1‑0 the final word against Deportivo Pasto in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

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.

Player ratings

John Córdoba in the eights

A performance of 8.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

The dugout

Nicolás Gil gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

John Córdoba makes the team of the month

Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

A satisfied George Barnes

“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.

In brief

139 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

26 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

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.

The dugout

Orles Aragón says Millonarios went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Player ratings

Kevin Tamayo runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

José Luis Caicedo wants to know where this is going

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Millonarios

José Luis Caicedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Nicolás Gil wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

A row about effort at Millonarios

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.

Match

Late, late show earns Millonarios a point

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.

Match

Millonarios share the spoils with Atletico Bucaramanga

A 2‑2 draw with Atletico Bucaramanga leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

In brief

138 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

19 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Javier Burrai

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.

Player ratings

Daniel Ruiz scores twice — 9.46

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.

Market

Juan Carlos Pereira has one foot out of the door

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.

Match

Nobody wants to play Millonarios right now

3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Jaine Barreiro in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Daniel Ruiz the difference as Millonarios beat Deportivo Pereira

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.

Market

Santiago Cuero wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

The dugout

No hiding place for Wuilker Fariñez

“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 dugout

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

137 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

12 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Javier Burrai damages knee ligaments — 28 days out

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.

Boardroom

Millonarios hand the job to George Barnes

“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.

Market

Juan José Ramírez hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Match

Millonarios see off La Equidad

Three points for Millonarios, 2‑0 the final word against La Equidad in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Market

Samuel Martín has his eye on Europe

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.

Squad

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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Lautaro Belleggia

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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Daniel Ruiz

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

136 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

5 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Javier Burrai

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.

Player ratings

Both of them John Córdoba's — 8.19

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.19, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Edinson Largacha was unplayable

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.

Squad

Jhomier Guerrero stays put

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Millonarios

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.

Match

John Córdoba the difference as Millonarios beat Jaguares

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.

Squad

50 goals in the shirt for John Córdoba

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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Daniel Ruiz

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.

The dugout

The form table has caught Jaine Barreiro

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.

In brief

135 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

26 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Javier Burrai damages knee ligaments — 44 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Match

Cup progress for Millonarios

A 2‑1 win over Barranquilla, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Squad

Wuilker Fariñez keeps Millonarios in it on his own

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.

Match

Millonarios win it in stoppage time

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.

Player ratings

Jhonier Salas beats them one at a time

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 ratings

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.

Boardroom

Still no name above the door at Millonarios

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Millonarios

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.

Market

Andrés Llinás has his eye on Europe

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

134 Edition

The Millonarios Gazette

19 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Javier Burrai

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.

Market

Juan Carlos Pereira is on his way

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.

Match

5 matches without a win for Millonarios

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Millonarios are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Jaine Barreiro in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

The goals have deserted Millonarios

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.

Squad

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 dugout

No hiding place for Nicolás Gil

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

Market

Alex Moreno Paz has his eye on Europe

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 dugout

The form table has caught Kevin Tamayo

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.

In brief