Higuita joins Atletico Nacional

Former Colombia international Rene Higuita has been named as Atletico Nacional’s new goalkeeping coach.

The 50-year-old, famous for his innovative scorpion kick save at Wembley Stadium in 1995, played for the Colombian club over 180 times across two spells in the 1990s.

Higuita had previously coached at Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia after bringing his playing career to an end in 2010.

Speaking at a media conferece, Atletico president Andres Botero said of Higuita’s return to the club: “This is great news for the Atletico Nacional club, for the fans and for the whole country.

“We not only want to prepare goalkeepers for Nacional, but for Colombian football and for international football.

“He always said that the dream of his life was to return to Atletico Nacional.”

Never the most orthodox of shot stoppers, Higuita was a pioneer of the sweeper-keeper technique that is common in modern football – although this resulted in Colombia’s downfall in the 1990 World Cup when Cameroon striker Roger Milla dispossessed him well outside the area before slotting home to send the African nation through to the quarter-finals.

Higuita may also double up as a set-pieces coach for Atletico, with the man known as El Loco having regularly found the net from free kicks and penalties, scoring three goals for his country.