The Argument with Andrés Escobar
Escobar returned home to Colombia after the tournament. On July 1, 1994, Escobar went out with friends to a bar in the El Poblado neighborhood in Medellín. Then they headed to the El Indio nightclub before going their separate ways. At 3 a.m., Escobar was sitting alone in his car in the parking lot when three men confronted him. After a scuffle, two of the men, who were carrying handguns, fired six shots at Escobar, with one of them yelling “Goal!” after every shot.
Eventually, the assailants fled the scene in a Toyota pickup truck. Upon arriving to the hospital, Escobar was pronounced dead at the age of 27.
It was widely believed Escobar’s own goal was the reason for his murder, committed by bettors who had lost money placing wagers on the Colombian team, a bizarre set of circumstances that took on a life of its own.
“There's a player murdered for scoring an own goal in the World Cup,” soccer journalist Jonathan Wilson tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “Essentially this is much more complicated than that, but people see him score an own goal, they feel sorry for him, and then a few days later, he’s shot dead. So, of course, it gains more prominence.”
Gallón and his brother, Pedro, were at the scene that night in 1994 and had apparently confronted Escobar before the encounter that ended his life. After being investigated for obstruction of justice, the Gallón brothers served 15 months in prison, and it is believed they bribed the Prosecutor’s Office to turn the investigation over to Munoz.
'Narco-Soccer'
To this day, it still baffles many that a prominent and beloved soccer player would be executed for a simple mistake common in the sport of soccer. But even though the assailants apparently said “Goal!” while they shot Escobar, in reality, he wasn’t killed for scoring the own goal. It was the tragic end result of an argument that ensued in the parking lot over the own goal.
“The own goal is the reason why he gets involved in the argument, which leads to being shot,” Wilson says. “He's not shot for scoring an own goal. The people who shoot him, apparently, do shout, 'auto goal, auto goal' as they shoot him, but he is not killed for scoring the own goal.”
Before his murder, Escobar had published a column entitled “Life Doesn’t End Here” in the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, encouraging fans to turn the page on his mistake and remain positive.
His murder also shed light on the intersection of sports and organized crime, particularly during the era of “Narco-Soccer." During this time, the Colombian national team was immensely funded by drug cartels, including Pablo Escobar, who helped fund Atlético Nacional, a club team in Medellín that Andrés Escobar had played on.
Escobar’s own goal and subsequent murder were caught in that context.
“Death, history, politics, crime, they've always surrounded the World Cup,” Wilson says.
Today, Escobar is held in high regard in Colombia, almost as a national hero whose death remains a sensitive spot. His popularity can be traced back to Colombia’s improbable victory over Argentina that got them to the World Cup, and his humility endeared him to the masses.
“It's the greatest moment in Colombian sporting history,” Wilson says. “It gives people a hope that they were not familiar with. And that then goes wrong for a series of reasons. There was a lot wrong with the World Cup, even before the end goal, but he's the one who dies for it, and because he'd written that newspaper column which comes out posthumously, in which he really sort of sets out a positive vision, I think that's a very compelling narrative.”
Nine years later, filmmakers Jeff and Michael Zimbalist released the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary The Two Escobars, which told the story of Escobar’s own goal and the Colombian national team receiving funds from Pablo Escobar.
