Tino Asprilla had no problem keeping Newcastle United fans entertained during his dazzling spell on Tyneside.
Now the former Colombia striker wants fans to cheer him up during a stay in hospital.
Asprilla, now 50, is recovering from a bout of food poisoning and sent a post to his Instagram followers asking them for messages to keep him amused.
The social media post was accompanied by a picture of Asprilla smiling on a hospital bed, and is captioned: “I am looking at my Instagram and I noticed nobody has written to me.
"Write any silly thing to me because I am over here getting better.”
So far the post has received 34,842 likes and hundreds of replies - including one from former Portugal defender Fernando Couto.
Asprilla remains a cult hero on Tyneside after joining under Kevin Keegan in 1996.
He is best remembered among Newcastle fans for the Champions League hat-trick he netted against Barcelona in a 3-2 win in 1997.
Always a colourful character, he recently revealed on a TV documentary how he had to convince a hitman not to kill Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert following a match in which they were both sent off.
In a documentary broadcast on Colombian television channel TelePacifico, the BBC reports Asprilla responded: “What? Are you crazy?” You’ll destroy Colombian football, you can’t do that!
“No, no, no, no. What happens on the pitch, stays on the pitch."
