Macnelly Torres
Macnelly Torres Berrío (born 1 November 1984) is a Colombian footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder. Torres made his debut for Colombia in 2007 and has scored 4 goals in 48 appearances for the country. Club career. Early career. Torres joined Atlético Junior's youth system at age 10 until he made his debut as a professional in 2002. In the 2004 season he won the Finalización Tournament, which was his first professional title in his career. Macnelly was part of a "golden generation" for Junior, also including players like Martín Arzuaga and Omar Sebastián Pérez. In  2005, he moved to Cúcuta Deportivo, where he won the 2006 Finalización. He also participated in the 2007 Copa Libertadores, where he scored a goal against Uruguay's Nacional to help Cúcuta qualify for the semifinals, which they lost to the eventual champions Boca Juniors. Colo-Colo. After Jesús Dátolo of Boca Juniors failed to sign for Chilean club Colo-Colo, Torres became the new target of the Santiago-based club. He completed his move after long negotiations of the Chilean club with Cúcuta, and both clubs reached an agreement for a fee of US$2.4 million. This fee was  the most expensive in Chilean football history at the time. The previous record was the $1.2 million transfer of Néstor Gorosito from San Lorenzo de Almagro to Universidad Católica. On 7 February 2008, Torres was presented as new player of the club during a press conference alongside the club's coach Claudio Borghi. He arrived as a replacement for his compatriot Giovanni Hernández, who had problems with the club's board and then signed for Atlético Junior. Colo-Colo later confirmed that Torres would join in June, because he had to finish playing the 2008 Copa Libertadores with Cúcuta . Torres won two league titles with the club: the 2008 Clausura and the 2009 Clausura. In January 2011, Torres requested to leave the club. Atlético Nacional. In 2011, he moved back to his home country and signed for Atlético Nacional. With the club, he won the 2011 and 2013 Apertura, as well as the 2012 Copa Colombia. He left the club after the 2013 Apertura, and had a brief loan spell after the 2011 Apertura to San Luis of the Liga MX. Al Shabab. He signed with Al Shabab in 2013 and played one season with the Saudi club, where  he scored once in 22 appearances. Return to Junior. Torres returned to Junior in 2015, which was the club where he made his professional debut in 2001. He played the Apertura season with the club, which runs from January to June, while making 19 appearances and scoring 2 goals. Return to Atletico Nacional. Torres won the 2016 Copa Libertadores with Atlético Nacional, and was named in the squad of the tournament. He won his second title in 2017, the Recopa Sudamericana. Deportivo Cali. In July 2018, Torres signed for Deportivo Cali, and played the 2018 Finalización season with them. Libertad . In December 2018, a Club Libertad director commented that the club's coach, Leonel Alvarez, who is also Colombian just like Torres, wanted to bring the player to the club. A few days later, the transfer was confirmed and Torres signed for the Paraguayan club on a two-year contract. In addition, a release clause of $500,000 was set. He joined fellow Colombian Alexander Mejía at the club, who was his former teammate at Atlético Nacional. He won the 2019 Copa Paraguay with the club. In January 2020, the club decided to terminate his contract, mainly due to the  number of injuries he had and performing below the expectations. Alianza Petrolera. In February 2020, the Colombian player returned to his home country, this time to Alianza Petrolera. In December 2020 he left the club, citing injuries and COVID-19 as the reasons. International career. Torres was part of the Colombia U-20 squad that reached the semi-finals of the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship. He played 5 games. Torres made his international debut in a friendly against Guatemala on 17 June 2005. Torres also played in all of Colombia's group games at the 2007 Copa America. Despite being heavily  criticized for leaving Atletico Nacional to join Al-Shabab, Torres was still called up to dispute the 2014 World Cup qualifying matches against Ecuador and Uruguay. His decision to join the Arabic club was considered to decrease his chances in making the squad for the 2014 World Cup. Personal life. Torres' first name, Macnelly, was given to him by his father after a baseball star he admired. Career statistics. International goals. "Scores and results lists Colombia's goal tally first." Honours. Club. Atlético Junior Cúcuta Deportivo Colo-Colo Atlético Nacional Al-Shabab Riyadh