Former Newcastle forward Faustino Asprilla has sensationally claimed that he once had to convince a hitman not to kill Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert.
The incident is said to have occurred after both Asprilla, playing for Colombia, and Chilavert were sent off after clashing during a 1997 World Cup qualifying match in Asuncion, which Paraguay won 2-1.
Asprilla, who signed for Newcastle midway through the 1996/97 season, which saw Kevin Keegan’s ‘Entertainers’ blow a lead in the Premier League title race, says that the gunman phoned his hotel room after the game asking for permission to murder Chilavert.
“What? Are you crazy?” Asprilla said of his response. “You’ll destroy Colombian football, you can’t do that!
“No, no, no, no. What happens on the pitch, stays on the pitch,” he added, in a documentary broadcast on Colombian television.
Chilavert was himself a legendary figure in South American football, renowned for his goalscoring feats, having scored 76 professional goals during his career, the second-most of any goalkeeper in history.
In 1994, Colombian defender Andres Escobar was shot dead outside a bar in Medellin, just weeks after scoring an own goal which played a part in Columbia’s exit from that year’s World Cup in the US.
