Yes, there is a rather controversial character in Colombia is he Tino Asprilla. The former player had a life of great sporting success, but also of scandals and since his retirement his particular personality has not changed much.
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Tino recently told some anecdotes about what happened to him after the 1994 World Cup in the United States. After having arrived at the World Cup with high expectationsthe Colombian National Team received a hard soccer blow when it fell in the debut of the orbital event against George Hagi’s Romania, which left it in an uncomfortable position for its second outing against the local team.
Unfortunately, in a match with maximum tension and no margin for error, a cross by John Harkes in the middle of the Colombian box was interrupted by a right-footed booty from andres escobar and led to the first goal of that fateful game, which ended 2-1 in favor of the North Americans, which sentenced the tricolor elimination. Because of this situation, the iconic central defender was assassinated on Saturday, July 2, 1994 in the city of Medellín, at the exit of a disco. His death would have been the product of retaliation by gamblers
According to Tino, due to their fear and the tense atmosphere in the country, he decided to hire a group of bodyguards to move around the national territory.
However, he says that due to this decision he came to have problems with the Rodríguez Orejuela family, remembered for being leaders of the Cali Cartel. El Tino made the statements in a fun interview with his best friend ‘Caremonja’.
“When Andrés Escobar was killed there was a lot of tension, many threats. At that time I hired some bodyguards (…) We parked and some men passed by in a truck and they yelled at me, black son of a bitch, if I had been good at playing soccer they would not have eliminated us from the World Cup,” says Tino, who admits that he was angry because of those shots.
“The man shot lying down like this and I told him ‘what are you doing?’ when I dial: ‘No, boss, they have to respect you, how are they going to tell you that,’ added Asptrilla.
Later he found out that the people who were shot by the bodyguard were nephews of the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers.. In the end, to smooth things over and avoid future inconveniences, Tino remembered that he had to give them a signed gift.
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