gutiérrez made his 2007 torneo de apertura debut in a 1–0 home win over santiago wanderers, playing the full 90 minutes, and scored his first goal of the season against lota schwager on 18 february. with the pass of time, he broke into the first team and was an undisputed starter in the squad of the peruvian coach josé del solar. on 16 june 2007, he suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury for second time in his career, in the 2–0 victory over coquimbo unido for the apertura's last game, although after a scan it was revealed to be not as bad as first thought, with católica optimistic that he would return before the early of the next season.