page_title: Darwin Quintero
section_title: Santos Laguna
hierarchical_section_title: Darwin Quintero / Club career / Santos Laguna
caption_attribution_description: English: Santos player Carlos Darwin Quintero
context_page_description: Carlos Darwin Quintero Villalba is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a forward for MLS club Houston Dynamo. Quintero is also known by his nickname of El Científico del Gol. He has played various roles throughout his career, spending time leading the line as a striker, playing out wide as a winger, and playing underneath another striker as a second striker and central attacking midfielder throughout his career. His main attributes throughout his career have been his pace, creativity, and technical and dribbling ability.
context_section_description: 2008–09 Season
  In December 2008,  Quintero joined Club Santos Laguna of the Mexican Primera División for a transfer fee over $4 million. He explained that his decision to join Santos was inspired by seeing the success other Colombians were having in Mexico.  In early January, he joined up with the team in Cancún for a training camp ahead of the 2009 Clausura season.  He made his debut for Santos on 18 January 2009 in the first match of the Clausura, playing all 90 minutes in a 2–1 against Club América.  Quintero started the first two matches of the season due to an injury to star Ecuadorian striker Christian Benítez.  After he failed to score in his first 4 matches, there was some media criticism of his lack of goals, but was praised for his work rate.  On 15 February Quintero scored his first goal for Los Guerreros in a 2–1 victory over Chivas.  He made his first appearance in the CONCACAF Champions League on 25 February, coming on as a substitute in a 2–0 defeat to the Montreal Impact in the first leg of the quarterfinals.  Quintero got his first assist for Santos on 1 March, finding Benítez outside the box, who then laced the ball into bottom right corner.  Santos would go on to draw Club Necaxa 2–2.  In the return leg of the CCL quarterfinals, Santos found themselves trailing the Impact 4–3 on aggregate as they entered stoppage time. Quintero slotted in a cross across the 6 yard box in the 91st minute to level the aggregate score at 4, however Santos still trailed on away goals.  Quintero scored again in the 93rd minute to put Los Guerreros up 5–4 on aggregate and in to the semifinals.  On 15 March, Quintero found the back of the net twice as Santos drew with Deportivo Toluca  2–2.  He would stay hot in their next match, scoring twice to give Santos a 2–1 victory over Atlante in the first leg of the CCL semifinals.  Quintero scored his 4th goal of the Clausura on 5 April to help rescue a 2–2 draw with Pachuca.  In the second leg with Atlante, Quintero got an assist on Vicente Matías Vuoso's goal to put Santos up 3–2, however two late goals saw Atlante come back and advance to the final.  Santos and Quintero failed to qualify for Liguilla.  He enjoyed a solid debut season, scoring 8 and assisting 2 in 20 appearances across all competitions.
  2009–10 Season
  Quintero made his first appearance of the 2009–10 season in a North American SuperLiga match on 28 June 2009.  Quintero came on as a substitute in the second half and helped Santos secure a 3–1 win over the Kansas City Wizards in the final match of the group stage.  He would play the full 90 minutes and score once in the semifinal with Tigres UANL, however Los Guerreros would fall by the score of 3–2.  He made his first Primera División appearance of the season season in the first match of the Apertura on 26 July, a 1–1 draw with Monarcas Morelia.  He picked up his first goal of the Apertura campaign on 16 August in a 3–2 win over Cruz Azul.  Quintero recorded his first assist of the season on 4 September in a 4–2 victory over Estudiantes Tecos. After scoring a goal in a 2–0 win over Querétaro on 13 September, Quintero got an assist in the 88th minute to give Santos a 1–0 over Atlante.  He had another assist in the next match for Los Guerreros as they defeated Pachuca 4–0.  Quintero ended the Apertura with 3 goals and 5 assists as helped Santos qualify for the Liguilla. Santos were defeated by Morelia in the first round, losing 4–2 over the two legs.  In the 2010 InterLiga Quintero made 3 substitute appearances as Santos were eliminated in the group stage.  In the opening match of the 2010 Clausura, Quintero came off the bench and scored to help Santos record a 3–2 victory over Morelia.  He scored in three consecutive games from matchweek 9 to 11, with Santos winning all three games.  On 19 April, he scored and assisted another as Los Verdiblancos defeated San Luis 2–1.  Quintero scored 6 times and assisted for 4 goals as Santos qualified for Liguilla.  He picked up an assist in the first leg of the quarterfinals as Santos went on to defeat UNAM Pumas 2–1 over two le
caption: Quintero during the 2012 Clausura
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