DIM and Deportes Tolima will meet on Tuesday at the Manuel Murillo Toro in Ibagué in the third date of the Clausura, a match that sends both clubs into one of the earliest checkpoints of the season with their form already under scrutiny. DIM will reach its 40th match of 2026, while Tolima will play its 38th.
The game kicks off at 6:15 p.m., and it arrives with DIM trying to stretch its perfect start in the Liga after two wins, while Tolima also comes in with victories from its opening league matches. The table is tight enough that DIM shares the same number of points as América, Águilas Doradas and Tolima, which gives this one a sharper edge than a midweek date usually carries.
For Amaranto Perea, the trip to Ibagué is another test of a rebuilding job that has moved carefully so far. He has lost only one of the four matches he has coached, but the team’s response has not fully erased the unease that has hung over DIM since the end of the previous semester. The coach asked for time so his hand could show in the side and the players could be given patience, and Tuesday offers another chance for that request to look justified on the field.
DIM’s opening run has been tidy rather than overwhelming. It beat Pasto 3-2 at Ditaires in Itagüí without public because of a sanction from civil authorities, then beat Deportivo Cali by one goal at the Atanasio Girardot with a late strike. Tolima’s own start has been just as efficient, with a 2-1 win over Junior de Barranquilla in Ibagué and another 2-1 result against Alianza in Valledupar. Both sides have points on the board, but neither has fully convinced its supporters, which is why the match feels bigger than the standings alone.
There is also a practical question hanging over the trip: whether visiting fans will be allowed inside the Manuel Murillo Toro. That uncertainty matters because DIM’s relationship with its supporters has been strained since the end of the previous semester, and the team’s recent results have not completely repaired it. The club was also eliminated from the Copa Sudamericana by Vasco da Gama, a setback that still frames how every league result is being read now.
Tolima, meanwhile, carries a strong home record into the night. The match comes with the added weight of a note that Tolima had not lost at the Manuel Murillo Toro since 2017, a detail that makes home advantage more than a slogan. For DIM, the challenge is simpler to describe and harder to solve: keep the league start alive in a stadium where the margin for error is small and the questions around the team have not gone away.
Tuesday will not settle everything, but it will tell whether DIM’s early wins were the beginning of a steadier run or just a fast start that still needs proving. It will also show whether Tolima can keep its edge at home against one of the few teams matching it point for point this early in the Clausura.
