Independiente Medellín gets Once Caldas this Saturday at 8:10 p.m. at the Atanasio Girardot, and the match can move DIM closer to the 28-point line that marks qualification to the Clausura semifinals. With 23 points already in hand, the club is five points short of that target and still within reach of sealing a quadrangulares place sooner rather than later.
The timing matters because DIM has just come off elimination from the Copa BetPlay by Atlético Nacional on Wednesday, leaving the league as its only route to keep its season on track in the short term. This is also a side that has kept producing results in this matchup: it has not lost to Once Caldas since March 16, 2024, beat it 2-0 in the Apertura in 2025, won 1-5 at Palogrande in the Clausura in 2025, and drew 1-1 in Manizales in the Apertura.
That run of results has come while Amaranto Perea’s team has put up enough chances to look more dangerous than its numbers suggest. DIM has scored 21 goals in 13 league matches, a modest return for a team that still sits on 23 points with a record of seven wins, two draws and four losses. Jhon Edwin Montaño leads the league scoring with five goals, Jéison Medina has three, and Hayen Palacios has two, but the attack has not always turned pressure into a scoreline that closes games early.
There is also a younger name in that picture. Kéiner Klinger, 18, has played 10 matches this semester and scored once, on September 3, 2026, against Deportivo Pereira. His presence is one more sign that DIM has pieces in place, but Saturday’s game is still about the same basic test: turn possession and chances into points before the 28-point threshold starts to feel less like a target and more like a warning.
If DIM handles Once Caldas, the path to the quadrangulares gets much cleaner. If it does not, the math tightens quickly, and every missed chance will carry a little more weight in the final stretch.
