Last update September 24, 2020 by Javier Argudo
Faustino Asprilla was one of the great forwards of the decade of the 90. The Colombian, after stressing the National Athletic in his native country, He was able to make the leap to Europe to play for important clubs of the time such as Italian Parma or Newcastle United of the Premier League.
Of course, Asprilla was absolute international with Colombia with which he played two World Cups, the United States in 1994 and that of France in 1998. Precisely, in the qualifying rounds for the second of them, the combined coffee was measured against Paraguay, selection in which the mythical goalkeeper played José Luis Chilavert.
The appointment was on 2 April 1997 and the Paraguayans managed to prevail by a tight score of 2-1. The meeting was very controversial and, precisely, Asprilla Y Chilavert they were the two great protagonists. In the minute 79 of game, both players had a confrontation and ended up expelled. This ignited the spirits of both the rest of the players and the members of both benches and, Of course, of the fans who were in the stands of the stadium.
Days after this ‘incident’, as explained Faustino Asprilla in interviews, the Colombian forward received a call from one of his team mates, The mythical Victor Hugo Aristizábal, to attend a meeting in a hotel. This is how ‘Tino’ explained it: “When I got there, that man was with 10 more people, all drunk, accompanied by several Paraguayan females”.
Asprilla: “You guys are crazy.. "They are going to put an end to Colombian football."
Apparently, among these individuals was a drug trafficker known as Julio Fierro, who did not hesitate to make a proposal to Tino Asprilla: “We need you two to give authorization to go kill that fat Paraguayan Chilavert”. Obviously, the forward was very surprised and flatly refused: “You guys are crazy.. They are going to end Colombian football. That can not be, “what happens on the field stays on the field”.
Although the drug traffickers insisted, the Colombian striker managed to convince them not to carry out their plan to end the life of the Paraguayan goalkeeper. It should be remembered that, few years earlier, the Colombian defender Andres Escobar was assassinated after scoring a goal in his own goal in a game against the United States that saw the elimination of his team.
Meanwhile, Julio Fierro, who was one of the lieutenants of Pablo Escobar and he was married to the model Natalia Paris, he was killed by the paramilitaries.
