Asprilla: Nilimzuia muuaji asimpige risasi Chilavert

Bogota, Colombia. Mshambuliaji wa zamani wa Colombia, Faustino Asprilla amesema alimshawishi muuaji asimshambulie kwa risasi kipa Paraguay, Jose Luis Chilavert baada ya wawili hao kugombana katika mechi ya kusaka kufuzu kwa Kombe la Dunia 1997.

Katika kipindi cha televisheni kilichorushwa na kituo cha TV cha Colombia TelePacifico jana Jumanne, Asprilla alisema muuaji alimfuata chumbani kwake baada ya yeye na Chilavert kutolewa nje katika mechi ya kusaka kufuzu iliyochezwa Asuncion, ambayo Paraguay ilishinda 2-1.

Muuaji huyo alifariki mwaka 2004 katika matukio ya kushambuliaji kwa risasi yanayohusishwa na makundi ya wauza dawa za kulevya, alikwenda kwa Asprilla kuomba ruhusu ya kuua Chilavert, lakini Mcolombia huyo alikataa.

'Nini? Wewe kichaa?' alisema Asprilla baada ya kuombwa ruksa. 'Utaharibu mpira wote wa Colombia, usifanya hivyo. Hapana, hapana, hapana, hapana. Kile kinachotokea uwanjani kinabaki uwanjani.'

Nyota huyo wa zamani wa Parma na Newcastle, Asprilla ambaye ametimiza miaka 50 wiki iliyopita, ni moja wachezaji nyota waliotikisa katika soka la Colombia miaka ya tisini kwa vituko vyake vya ndani na nje ya uwanja.

The incident underlines the violence in Colombia, and the once-strong links between football and the country's powerful drug traffickers such as Pablo Escobar, who was a huge soccer fan and invested in the game, in the 1990s.

In one of the darkest chapters of football history, Colombian defender Andres Escobar was shot dead outside a bar in Medellin in 1994 in apparent retribution for an own goal he scored days earlier that hastened their exit from the World Cup in the United States.