The murder of Andrés Escobar: An own goal, six shots

At the time, Colombia was a not-so-secret favorite for the World Cup title. A great team, led by strategist Carlos Valderrama, with goals from Freddi Rincon and Adolfo Valencia. Andrés Escobar kept the defense in check. This golden generation of Colombian football was at the height of its powers before the World Cup in the USA. In the decisive qualifier against Argentina, they beat Argentina 5-0 in Buenos Aires, having lost just one of their 26 matches before the World Cup. In the 1990s, Colombia suffered from the bloody battles of the drug cartels, which also controlled football. The patron of both Nacional and the national team was Pablo Escobar, one of the bosses of the powerful Medellín cartel; Andrés shared his name with him only in name. With his money, Nacional bought and maintained the team that won the 1989 Copa Libertadores.

The boss wanted to be entertained for his money, so the entire team would be flown in whenever he felt like it. "If Don Corleone invites me to a plate of pasta, I can't really turn it down," the then national coach Francisco Maturana once said. The visits didn't stop even when Pablo Escobar was already under arrest. René Higuita, the crazy goalkeeper, was photographed. Because he was also involved in the handover of money in the case of a woman kidnapped by drug traffickers, he was sentenced to six months in prison. Pablo Escobar died in December 1993 under a hail of bullets from a Colombian-American elite unit. And within the cartels and clubs, positions and influence were redistributed.