Cúcuta Deportivo and Junior de Barranquilla will meet Friday, April 24, 2026, at the General Santander stadium in a date 18 match of Liga BetPlay 2026-I, with kickoff set for 4:00 p. m. Colombian time. Junior can climb into second place with a positive result, while Cúcuta is trying to add points to close the semester with a better average and avoid relegation-table trouble.
Cúcuta comes in after a 5-0 loss to Independiente Santa Fe in its most recent away match mentioned in the buildup, and it is keeping a similar lineup, with Juan Ceballos replaced by Santiago Orozco and Hassler Beltrán and Jaime Peralta entering in attack. The numbers show how uneven its campaign has been: three wins, six draws and eight losses, a record that leaves it outside title contention in this championship.
Junior reaches the match after beating Llaneros 2-0 at home and securing its place among the top eight teams in the championship. That result gives the Barranquilla club breathing room in the table, but not much time to relax, because the team may rotate players with a Copa Libertadores match against Sporting Cristal coming next.
The expected changes are already significant. In defense, Jermein Peña, Andrés Schmalbach and Yeison Suárez are out, and Lucas Monzón, Daniel Socarrás, Jhomier Guerrero and Jhon Navia are in. In midfield, Jesús Rivas, Juan David Ríos and Kevin Pérez are out, while Harold Rivera, Jannenson Sarmiento and Yimmi Chará return. Teófilo Gutiérrez is also out of the attacking front in the lineup mentioned for the match.
That leaves Friday’s game with two different pressures running through the same field. Junior is playing for position and planning ahead for continental travel, while Cúcuta is playing for points it badly needs to steady a campaign that has spent too much of the semester in the wrong place. The match may not decide the championship, but for Cúcuta Deportivo it can still shape the difference between closing the season under strain and closing it with a little more control.