‘Tino’ Asprilla welcomed Iron Maiden to Colombia and remembered when he appeared in the booklet of one of their albums

When Iron Maiden returned to Colombia, ‘Tino’ welcomed the heavy metal group through his social networks – credit Colprensa

After months of waiting since the announcement, and 13 years since their last visit to the country, Iron Maiden will play at the El Campín stadium in Bogotá on Sunday, November 24. The iconic heavy metal group’s tour of the country is marked in the concert calendar as one of the most important, to the extent that it sold out in a few hours, going over the demand for concerts such as Karol G or RBD. in 2023.

The band led by Steve Harris has a large fan base in the country, but they also have a special relationship with Colombia because at times in their career they crossed paths with those of Faustino Asprilla.

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In 1998, Iron Maiden released their 11th studio album, Virtual XIone of the two who recorded with Blaze Bayley as a vocalist before their iconic vocalist Bruce Dickinson announced his return to the lineup. For the long-term promotion, the band decided to add a photo shoot to the booklet accompanying the physical CD.

Photo of ‘Tino’ Asprilla with Iron Maiden on the ‘Virtual XI’ album from 1998. / Social media image

As football fans (Steve Harris, in particular, is a West Ham fan), Iron Maiden decided to call up a number of players who were then active in the Premier League, including Paul Gascoigne, Ian Wright and Patrick Vieira. Tino Asprilla was also among themwho at the time was playing for Newcastle United.

An interesting detail is that Asprilla was not a fan of rock or heavy metal, so when the proposal came to him, he did not know Iron Maiden. However, he agreed to take part in the photoshoot when he found out that he would be paid £5,000 at the time to appear in a costume that had been specially designed for the occasion, as if they were an Iron Maiden football team.

26 years have passed since that moment, but Tino has not forgotten it. Proof of this is, among the enthusiasm for the band’s upcoming tour of the country as part of their tour The pastHe recalled the program on his social networks.

In his X account he wrote: “Football makes your friends rock stars like Iron Maiden wonders. Welcome, partners. I’ll see you on stage this Sunday, but I’m warning you: I’m only singing salsaaaaa.”tagging the official Iron Maiden account and accompanying the message with a short video reminiscent of their appearance at the album’s photo session Virtual XIwith Steve Harris.

The former footballer welcomed the Brits and warned that he hopes to see them on Sunday in El Campín – credit @Tinoasprillah/Instagram

Ecuador midfielder Moisés Caicedo was underrated by Asprilla ahead of the match in which Ecuador beat Colombia 1-0 against Barranquilla, and in which he was one of the numbers – credit Luisa González/REUTERS

But it’s not all memories for Tino these days. In the preview of the Colombian national team’s match against Ecuador in Barranquilla for the Qualifiers (which ended in a 0-1 loss), the former soccer player made controversial statements in which he described on the Chelsea footballer – in the end, one of the figures of the team led by Sebastián Beccacece – as a “normalito”.

in the program ESPN F360Asprilla said: “For me he is not a 130 million player. It’s normal, it’s not a big deal,” which provoked heated reactions in the Ecuadorian media and on social networks. Those complaints increased after the outstanding performance of Moisés Caicedo, who had full control of half of the field during the game, even leaving Richard Ríos as a witness during the game.

The Ecuadorian journalist Andrés Ponce, through his​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ World, Game, game, X match, Ponce, Caicedo, posted a video with the player’s best moments against the Colombian team. “Moisés Caicedo’s match against Colombia.” “Someone show this video to ‘Tino’ Aprilla,” he wrote.

This is how the Ecuadorian journalist reacted to Faustino Asprilla’s criticism of Moisés Caicedo – credit @AndresPonce28 /