Liga BetPlay II round 15: Bucaramanga stay unbeaten with ten men, Cúcuta beat Nacional and move into the top eight

The leaders, América de Cali, drew 1–1 in Bucaramanga with an Atlético Bucaramanga side that played with ten men from the 26th minute and remains the tournament's only unbeaten team. Behind them, Atlético Nacional, Deportivo Cali and Millonarios are two points back on 26. Tuesday's story was Cúcuta: they beat Nacional 1–0 and moved into the top eight, the cut for the cuadrangulares, pushing out Deportes Tolima, who lost in Rionegro. The round brought 20 goals in ten matches, six home wins, two away wins and two draws, and six red cards.

Saturday 17 October

Millonarios 4–1 Jaguares was settled at El Campín. A. Estupiñán opened the scoring on 34 from L. Castro's pass, Castro made it two on 40 from D. Ruiz's, and Jopito pulled one back for Jaguares on 45. In the second half Estupiñán, again from Castro's pass, made it 3–1 on 63, and Ruiz, from J. Cuadrado's, 4–1 on 70. Millonarios had 21 shots, nine on target; Jaguares three, one on target. The two goals take Estupiñán to 19 and to the top of the scorers' list. It is Millonarios' first win over Jaguares since February 2023.

Independiente Medellín 0–2 Once Caldas: J. A. Zapata put Once Caldas ahead on 35 from J. Patiño's pass, and M. Barrios, from Zapata's, added the second on 65. Once Caldas had five shots on target to three for Independiente Medellín, and beat Medellín for the first time since March 2024. According to El Tiempo, it capped a bad week for Medellín, who were knocked out of the Copa BetPlay by Nacional in the quarter-finals; Juan Fernando Quintero, out with a muscle injury since 22 September, asked for calm on Instagram: "We still have time".

Sunday 18 October

Águilas Doradas 2–1 Deportes Tolima was decided in the last minute. M. Ramírez put Águilas Doradas ahead on 14 from A. Ricaurte's pass and A. Parra Osorio equalised for Tolima on 24 from B. Rovira's; J. Soto won it from the penalty spot on 90, after the VAR confirmed the foul. The VAR also overturned a red card for Tolima's Anderson Angulo on 18. Tolima dropped from eighth to tenth.

Atlético Bucaramanga 1–1 América de Cali, the match of the round, turned on 26: Carlos Romaña was first shown a yellow card for a heavy tackle on Jorge Valencia and, after a VAR review, a straight red, according to Vanguardia, which counts it as Bucaramanga's fourth red card of the tournament. Even so, L. Pons, from F. Charrupí's pass, put the hosts ahead on 47, and Y. Quintero equalised for América on 71. América had 67 per cent of the ball and eight corners, but only four shots on target. Bucaramanga have six wins and seven draws from 13 matches.

Llaneros 1–0 Santa Fe: C. Cortés scored on 71 in Villavicencio. Llaneros had ten shots on target and the Santa Fe goalkeeper made nine saves. It is Llaneros' third win in a row over Santa Fe.

Deportivo Cali 0–0 Junior: in Palmira, Cali had 26 shots, nine on target, and could not score. Junior had Francisco Fydriszewski sent off on 64; according to El Tiempo, the referee was called to the monitor for a possible red card and ended up showing a second yellow. The paper considers Junior virtually out of the race for the cuadrangulares. According to El País, Cali's coach, Rafael Dudamel, said: "We cannot dismiss the point we picked up."

Monday 19 October

Deportivo Pasto 0–1 Alianza Valledupar: I. Alba scored on 39, and Alianza Valledupar finished with ten after D. Quiñones was sent off on 90+3. Deportivo Pasto had 71 per cent of the ball and three shots on target; they remain bottom.

Tuesday 20 October

Deportivo Pereira 2–0 Chicó: in Yopal, J. Largacha put Deportivo Pereira ahead on 40 from J. Monroy's pass. Chicó lost J. Alomía to a red card on 80, M. Díaz made it 2–0 on 86 from Y. Quiñones's pass, and Y. Cabrera, also of Chicó, was sent off on 88.

Internacional de Bogotá 2–1 Fortaleza: R. Julio put Internacional de Bogotá ahead on 13 from C. Dajome's pass, and J. Herrera missed a penalty for Fortaleza on 45. Internacional went down to ten when L. Vásquez was sent off on 70; F. Pulicastro equalised on 74 from S. Navarro's pass, but D. S. Victoria Palacios made it 2–1 on 80. Fortaleza had 71 per cent of the ball and 19 shots, three on target.

Cúcuta 1–0 Atlético Nacional: the only goal came on 18, an own goal by N. Parra. Nacional had 69 per cent of the ball and six shots on target, and the Cúcuta goalkeeper made six saves. James Rodríguez played the whole match, according to Infobae. It is Cúcuta's first win over Nacional in their last six meetings, going back to 2019, and, according to El Espectador, it took them into the top eight and away from relegation danger.

The table after round 15

Points, with matches played in brackets. The top eight go to the cuadrangulares; the bar marks the cut. The table includes two postponed matches played this week: Chicó 1–4 Nacional, from round 1, on Saturday, and Millonarios 1–1 Once Caldas, from round 13, on Tuesday night.

América de Cali 28 (14); Atlético Nacional 26 (13); Deportivo Cali 26 (14); Millonarios 26 (16); Bucaramanga 25 (13); Independiente Medellín 23 (14); Santa Fe 22 (13); Cúcuta 21 (14) | Once Caldas 20 (15); Deportes Tolima 20 (15); Águilas Doradas 19 (14); Llaneros 17 (14); Internacional de Bogotá 17 (15); Alianza Valledupar 15 (14); Deportivo Pereira 13 (14); Junior 12 (14); Chicó 12 (14); Fortaleza 11 (14); Jaguares 10 (13); Deportivo Pasto 9 (13).

At the top, América are two points clear of three sides on 26, and Bucaramanga are three behind with a game in hand. The race chart shows how it tightened: América reached 27 points in round 13 and added only one in the next two, while Nacional, Cali and Millonarios all reached 26. Further down, Cúcuta have 21 points, one more than Once Caldas and Tolima.

Numbers to know

• 20 goals in ten matches: six home wins, two away wins and two draws.
• Six players sent off: Carlos Romaña, Francisco Fydriszewski, D. Quiñones, J. Alomía, Y. Cabrera and L. Vásquez.
• A. Estupiñán (Millonarios) has 19 goals, one more than Y. Guzmán (América); L. Muriel (Junior) has 16 and D. Moreno (Once Caldas) 15.
• Bucaramanga are the only unbeaten side: six wins and seven draws.
• Deportivo Cali had 26 shots against Junior, nine on target, and drew 0–0.

Next up

First come three postponed matches: on Wednesday 21, Llaneros v Deportivo Cali (18:15 Bogotá time) and Santa Fe v Jaguares (20:20 Bogotá time), and on Thursday 22, Atlético Nacional v Deportivo Pasto (20:00 Bogotá time). The rest of round 16 begins on Friday 23 with Chicó v Bucaramanga (18:00 Bogotá time) and Junior v Águilas Doradas (20:10 Bogotá time). On Saturday 24, América host Cúcuta (18:05 Bogotá time), and on Sunday 25 comes the derby, Atlético Nacional v Independiente Medellín (18:10 Bogotá time); the round ends on Monday 26 with Jaguares v Llaneros (18:00 Bogotá time). The table and kick-off times are on the Liga BetPlay page.

Sources for the context: Vanguardia, El Tiempo, El Tiempo, El País, El Espectador, Infobae.