The scorpion kick: 20 years ago, Rene Higuita made football's most iconic save

When I was a player, we always played from a place of fear. Who's covering that guy? Who's on that guy? No, no. As a coach, I wanted my players to express themselves and let's see what happens. - Francisco Maturana

In the 1990s, manager Francisco Maturana injected a colour into Colombia's national team that is encapsulated in one save: the scorpion kick that 'keeper Rene Higuita deployed in a friendly on Sept. 6, 1995.

Colombia was taking on England in a friendly at Wembley, over one year after crashing out of the group stage at the 1994 World Cup in a campaign that was marred by violence in the streets of the South American country, death threats, and the subsequent killing of Andres Escobar, who scored an own goal at the competition and paid for the mistake with his life.

Maturana was no longer the manager when Colombia visited England, but the creativity and freedom of expression that he instilled in Los Cafeteros was on full display when Jamie Redknapp attempted to lob Higuita from 30 yards out.

Higuita already had an established reputation of being an erratic figure at the time of the save, which, it should be noted, was completely unnecessary and could have gone horribly wrong.

On the pitch, he was as loco as 'keepers come, fearless when inexplicably dribbling through the opposition with his feet, and famous for his adventurous play. Off the pitch, he lost his place in Colombia's World Cup squad after acting as a go-between for Pablo Escobar and Carlos Molina in the kidnapping of Molina's daughter.

The scorpion kick was, essentially, a microcosm of the enigma that is Higuita, a player who transcended football, who exemplified the difference between South American 'keepers and European 'keepers, who proudly associated himself with Escobar, the drug lord of all drug lords, and who once tested positive for cocaine.

Justin Bryant of In Bed With Maradona explains just why the save holds its place in football history:

The save has achieved a life all its own, and regularly finds itself placing highly on 'Greatest Sporting Moments' or 'Best Saves' lists. One wouldn't have been shocked had any number of 'loco' South American goalkeepers - Hugo Gatti, Jose Luis Chilavert, Ramon Quiroga - attempted such a trick. But only Rene Higuita did it.

In an interview with FIFA during his playing days, Higuita was asked about how he would like to be remembered when he retires from the game, to which he responded: "The best thing they can say ... is that Higuita was a man like many others; an ordinary human being who made mistakes, but who also had his good points too."

Regardless of whether Higuita is indeed remembered for being "an ordinary human being," there is no denying his career has been defined by - more than anything else - the scorpion kick.