The star comes from Shark. Junior de Barranquilla, the most important team in the Colombian Caribbean, was crowned champion of the football league this Tuesday, winning 0-1 in the return match against Deportes Tolima, in Ibagué. The coastal club was able to resist the attacks of its rival, who jumped onto the field of the Manuel Murillo Toro stadium with the urgency of overcoming the 3-0 deficit from the first leg. However, Junior took advantage of the same defensive flaws that Tolima had shown a few days before and, with a goal from José Enamorado, his great figure, they placed their eleventh championship star on their shield two years after winning the tenth.
Junior had done his homework in the first leg in Barranquilla: a brilliant first half, with Enamorado in a state of grace and a fan base that transformed the Metropolitan Stadium into a cauldron, was enough for the team to Shark will overwhelm Tolima. When the referee announced the end of the first 45 minutes of play, the hosts were already leading 3-0 on the scoreboard. The feeling that the eleventh star was almost assured began to become a certainty, even if in the second half the result held up. But football, rich in unforeseen events and miracles, always gives the opportunity to come back: we had to play first in Ibagué and revalidate the big match in Barranquilla.
The match in Ibagué, as expected, started with an aggressive Tolima, who drowned Junior and trapped him in his half. In the first five minutes he already accumulated a few finishes and began to pose a danger to the goal guarded by Mauro Silveira. The Barranquilla team waited, looking for space or a counter-attack to score a lethal goal for Tolima’s hopes. But time passed and the initial surge seemed to stagnate and turn into an overflow of unordered momentum. Before 20 minutes, the disorder of the Vinotinto team had its consequences: Yimmy Chará filtered a precise ball into the feet of Enamorado, who fired the ball at the Uruguayan goalkeeper Cristopher Fiermarin to increase the overall result to a catastrophic 4-0.
This goal was a big blow for Tolima, who, although he kept looking for a recovery, did not create a real dangerous play for his rival. Junior, confirming what he did on Friday in Barranquilla, began to feel more comfortable on the field, aware that the responsibility for finding the match fell, more than ever, on the home team. But when it seemed that the first half was going to end without news, the referee sent off the Paraguayan Guillermo Paiva, of Junior, for a confrontation with his rival Marlon Torres. The red card boosted the morale of the supporters and Tolima, who finished the first half as they had started: with more desire than precision to search, without success, for a discount that would give them hope.
The second half started with the same Tolima insisting, sometimes desperate, without finding a way to overcome the insurmountable defense that Junior kept putting in front of him. Through know-how and intelligence, the Barranquilla team always kept control of the match. On the other hand, the wine and gold were also plagued by misfortune, with headers deflecting just inches, balls hitting the posts and wasted rebounds that in other circumstances might have been a goal. The extra player has never weighed in favor of Tolima, a regular team in the final stages of tournaments, but with a very unfavorable winning rate: they have played five finals in the last five years, but have only won one (against Millonarios, in the opening tournament of 2021).
The weather also began to contribute to Tolima’s frustration. The long faces in the stands – where Colombian national team coach Néstor Lorenzo was – showed that fans were already aware that the miracle they had dreamed of all weekend was gone. In the foreign field, Junior, with an ascending performance throughout the league, already felt victory. This did not make him anxious or filled with anxiety, but rather he remained calm and revalidated the superiority he displayed throughout the 180 minutes of the two matches. The Juniors, having done their job from the start, more than approved the first leg. The referee whistles and points to the center of the field after four minutes: the title, once again, goes to Barranquilla.
With his championship, Junior, who always uses the muscle of his checkbook to strengthen himself and seek titles, secures his place for the Copa Libertadores 2026 and will compete in the Super League against Independiente Santa Fe, champion of the first half, in a two-way final whose date remains to be defined. But it is a question of the future: football has now highlighted Christmas and carnival in Barranquilla, which immerses itself in the celebration and celebration around the Shark.
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