WITH his curly perm, bushy moustache and penchant for the unpredictable, Colombian goalkeeper Rene Higuita was a face in football in the 90s.
Nicknamed ‘EL Loco’ (The Madman), Higuita, now 51, enjoyed a professional career spanning 13 clubs, nearly 500 games and a quarter of a century.
With the emphasis very much on ‘enjoyed’…
Let’s start with The Scorpion…
It’s September 1995 and barely 20,000 have ventured to Wembley to watch a midweek friendly between England and Colombia.
In the first half, Jamie Redknapp overhits a deep cross that seems to be going over the head of Higuita and into the net.
That is, until, the Colombian keeper leaps forward and, raising his legs behind him, kicks the ball off the line with his heels.
It leaves everyone, at Wembley or watching at home, with their jaws on the floor.
Higuita told the newspaper El Pais: "[The scorpion kick] will never be imitated.
"Today's goalkeeper does not take risks like I used to; he is a more simple player."
Goalkeeper re-enacts Rene Higuita's famous scorpion kick to keep Ronaldinho’s halfway line shot out
“It was taken from a kids' game; then it came into training.
"I started to perfect it and, after five years, I decided to try it.
"I didn't know where, how or when. It was a trick that helped put Colombia and myself on the map."
Over 20 years later and Higuita is still performing his party piece too.
But he wasn’t meant to be a goalkeeper…
Higuita began his playing career as a striker for his school team – he was top scorer too.
But he converted to goalkeeper when his own keeper was injured in match and he took over between the sticks.
The regular keeper never got a look-in from that day on.
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Which kind of explains his goalscoring record…
Higuita certainly had an eye for goal and even though he was a goalkeeper, he would often take set-pieces for his teams.
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For the Colombian national side he scored three times in his 68 caps.
In total, Higuita scored 48 goals in 380 club games and once went on a run of 11 goals in just 20 games for Independiente Medelin.
He really was quite a force from a dead ball.
His goalscoring wasn’t the only unorthodox thing about his game…
Arguably the original sweeper-keeper, Higuita was known for coming out of his penalty area and testing his undoubted dribbling skills against outfield players.
It was a rare skill that not only helped to counteract the new rules on the backpass but also gave his managers a new option during games.
His coach with Colombia Francisco Maturana said: "[Higuita] gives us something no one else has, and we take full advantage.
“With Rene as sweeper, we have 11 outfield players.”
But it often got him into trouble…
Most notably at the 1990 World Cup Finals when he allowed Cameroon’s Roger Milla to dispossess him near the halfway line and go on to score.
That mistake helped knock Colombia out of the tournament and he was vilified.
Higuita later described it as "a mistake as big as a house.”
He’s been in a spot of bother…
In 1993, Higuita was imprisoned for acting as a go-between for drugs lords Carlos Molina and Pablo Escobar.
Molina’s 11-year-old daughter had been kidnapped and Higuita stepped in to deliver the ransom money, receiving $64,000 for his services.
Higuita spent seven months in prison before being released without charge.
He shrugged and said: “I’m a footballer.
“I didn't know anything about kidnapping laws."
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And then there was that other time…
While playing in Ecuador in November 2004, Higuita tested positive for cocaine for the second time in two years and was promptly sacked by his club, Aucus.
This latest incident came soon after he was sacked from Atletico Junior.
The Barranquilla club also gave Higuita his marching orders when he repeatedly failed to show up for training.
He’s not averse to change…
In 2005, just after he had been voted ‘Colombia’s Ugliest Icon’, Higuita signed up the reality show Cambio Extremo (‘Extreme Change’).
He underwent an array of plastic surgery, including skin peels, six-pack enhancement, chin implants, and aggressive liposuction.
He said: “I am tired of being ugly Rene. I want to be handsome Rene.”
A month later, he revealed the results of the work he had done. And he was impressed.
He added: "Bodily, I am perfect."
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