Faustino Asprilla of Tuluá, Colombia, played football the way a flag behaves in high wind: improbably, beautifully, and never twice the same way. Italians called him il polipo — the octopus — for limbs that arrived from angles defenders hadn't legislated for. To Newcastle, then and forever, he is simply Tino.
He is one of the great cult icons precisely because the highlights are so absurdly real: the somersault celebrations, the fur coat in the snow, and three of the most famous goals of the nineties.
The moments
1993
The free kick that ended an era
On 21 March at San Siro, his second-half free kick beat AC Milan 1-0 and ended their 58-match unbeaten run in Serie A — the longest Italy had ever seen. Parma's rise, and Tino's legend, dated from that swing of the right boot.
1993
Two in the 5-0 in Buenos Aires
On 5 September, Colombia beat Argentina 5-0 in a World Cup qualifier at the Monumental — Asprilla scoring twice. The result remains a national holiday in all but name.
1996
A fur coat in a snowstorm
He arrived at Newcastle in February for £6.7m, stepping out into a Tyneside blizzard in a fur coat, and came off the bench against Middlesbrough a day later to change the game. Cult status: immediate.
1997
A hat-trick against Barcelona
In Newcastle's first ever Champions League group match on 17 September, he scored all three — a penalty and two headers — in a 3-2 win over Barcelona at St James' Park. Tyneside's greatest European night.
With Parma he won the Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Cup; with Colombia he lit up the great golden generation. But trophies were never really the point of Tino. The point was that you couldn't look away.