Willington Ortiz

Colombian football has had many gifted attackers, but Willington Ortiz still feels like one of its purest acts of imagination. Small, explosive and beautifully slippery on the ball, he played as a winger or forward with the courage of a street dribbler and the intelligence of a player who knew when to wound rather than decorate. Millonarios gave him one stage, Deportivo Cali another, but América de Cali turned him into a continental symbol, with domestic titles and repeated Copa Libertadores finals in the 1980s. He was not a heavy scorer in the European superstar sense, yet his dribbling, acceleration and ability to unbalance defensive systems made him a nightmare in South America. For Colombia, he became a reference before the Valderrama generation fully took over. Ortiz was flair with purpose, a winger forward who made defenders defend their dignity as much as their goal.