West Ham United played host to a ‘90s icon ahead of Colombia’s international friendly with Spain at London Stadium on Friday evening.
René Higuita became one of the most recognisable characters in world football thanks to his long, curly hair, flamboyant personality, willingness to dribble the ball up the pitch, take free-kicks and penalties and the ‘Scorpion Kick’ he performed against England at Wembley Stadium in 1995.
Capped 68 times by Colombia, Higuita scored three goals for his country and appeared at the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals and five Copa Américas. At club level, he won the Copa Libertadores, Copa Interamericana and Categoría Primera A with Colombian side Atlético Nacional and scored 40 goals from penalties and free-kicks for six different clubs.
Now 57, Higuita was at London Stadium to watch West Ham face Aston Villa in the Premier League, and he spent time chatting to Hammers stopper Łukasz Fabiański about his incredible career, goalkeeping and that Scorpion Kick!
“I am very happy and delighted to be back in London!” he told West Ham TV, before recounting that night at Wembley when he took to the skies to clear Jamie Redknapp’s shot in unforgettable style. “It’s remembering where I have a lot of football history and where I made that Scorpion save which to this day is immortalized.
“Colombia, led by Carlos ‘El Pibe’ (‘The Kid’) Valderrama, played very good football. When I saw that they were not playing the ball and playing around, then I came out to play. I gave them the initiative. When the team started to play well, I did not come out. That’s what happened. We started to play well, and then the Scorpion happened!”
The Medellín-born star, nicknamed ‘El Loco’, which translates to ‘The Madman’, even revealed he could have moved to the Premier League himself in the 1990s, but for concerns about his lack of height at 5’9.
“There was talk about me coming to England to play,” he recalled. “Newcastle were mentioned and there were a couple of comments from Arsenal. It might have been my height. It was believed that the height was crucial and it didn’t help me.”
Nearly 30 years on from that night at Wembley, Colombia return take on Spain in a high-profile friendly international at London Stadium on Friday evening – and Higuita will be there.
“I am very happy about it,” he exclaimed. “I am going to be here in England to remember a pretty story that we made in principal, getting a big result in that Colombia v England. Both matches [at Wembley in 1988 and 1995] between us ended in draws.
“Now, we have players here [in England], also, representing us [against Spain] and with our National Team playing and being part of it, I am more than delighted about it.”
