Keith Gillespie thought he was going out for dinner.

Only his nearest and dearest had other ideas, throwing the ex-Newcastle United winger a surprise 50th birthday party earlier this year.

And a special guest jetted in all the way from Colombia to be there.

"The doors opened and the first person I saw was Tino Asprilla," Gillespie said. "He was standing there waiting on me. It was quite surreal because he's somebody you don't expect to see in Bangor Golf Club.

"It was a lovely surprise. I was just made up that someone would actually make that effort to fly in for an evening."

It is now approaching three decades since the pair wreaked havoc for Newcastle against the mighty Barcelona.

But some friendships, clearly, stand the test of time.

"We clicked that night," Gillespie said.

Now, as Newcastle prepare to face the Catalan giants once again, Asprilla will be among those watching on at St James' Park on Thursday night.

In truth, the whole team clicked back in September 1997.

It may have been Newcastle's first-ever game in the Champions League proper, but former defender Philippe Albert felt "we had nothing to lose because Barcelona were the big favourites".

And Shay Given, who was in goal that night, suggested that the Catalan giants "thought they would only have to turn up and they would beat us".

That did not prove to be the case at a rocking St James' Park.

"I had never witnessed an atmosphere like that before," Given said. "Unbelievable."

Yet it was not exactly a foregone conclusion that match-winner Asprilla would even feature – let alone score a hat-trick in his side's 3-2 victory.

Gillespie recalled how Asprilla "arrived late from international duty the previous weekend so there was talk he might not be playing".

But manager Sir Kenny Dalglish did not exactly have a plethora of options up front.

Alan Shearer was sidelined with a serious ankle injury while Les Ferdinand had been sold to Spurs just a couple of months previously.

No wonder former right-back Warren Barton remembered "Kenny giving Tino the benefit of the doubt".

It was hardly the ideal build-up for a match of this magnitude, but Barton could sense his team-mate was "in the zone" that night.

"Tino was always very quiet before the games," he said. "But he just had an aura about him and a look in his eye. This was his stage."

It did not take Asprilla long to make an impact, the striker winning a penalty and putting his side in front from the spot midway through the first half.

It was quickly apparent that he was in the mood.

"A lot of times you knew after two or three minutes what Tino you were going to get," Gillespie said. "Sometimes he could be terrible, but he was outstanding more often than not."

It was not just Asprilla who had the game of his life.

Gillespie was the first to admit he was a "little bit in awe" as he looked across the tunnel before the game and saw Rivaldo, Luis Figo, Luis Enrique and Ivan de la Pena staring ahead.

But the Northern Irishman did not know much about Sergi, who was rated as one of the best left-backs in Europe at the time.

Gillespie wanted to test out his marker to see how quick he was.

And once the winger knew he had the beating of Sergi, he repeatedly demanded the ball out on the right.

Rather than having a trick up his sleeve, Gillespie "dropped the shoulder because he knew he was going to get there first" and whipped the ball into the box.

Asprilla did the rest.

Not only did Asprilla double his side's lead with a bullet header, he made it 3-0 with a near-identical goal to leave Newcastle owner Sir John Hall stunned.

"Tino was inspirational that night," Sir John said. "You could see him hang in the air when the ball came to him - and bang!"

Barcelona pulled two goals back, through Luis Enrique and Figo, but Newcastle held on. Just.

It remains one of the most famous results in the club's history.

In some ways, it was rather fitting that Asprilla never scored another goal for the club before re-joining Parma a few months later.

How could it get any better?

Barton called it the Colombian's "pinnacle".

These were the nights Asprilla came alive.

Indeed, it did not feel a coincidence that the striker scored as many goals (nine) for Newcastle in 11 European games as he did in 48 Premier League fixtures.

Yet Asprilla's top-flight debut was one to remember following his £6.7m move from Parma in February 1996.

The new signing was not scheduled to play so soon after touching down in the snow in a fur coat a few days previously.

He even helped himself to a glass of red wine with his pre-match meal before the game against Middlesbrough.

But Kevin Keegan, who was Newcastle's manager at the time, felt moved to throw on his record signing after watching his side go 1-0 down at the Riverside.

Asprilla duly set up Steve Watson's equaliser and the maverick's rubber legs helped turn the game on its head as the league leaders ran out 2-1 winners.

"As soon as he came in, he made the difference," Albert said. "Only the great players can do something like this."

It gave Keegan food for thought at a critical juncture of the title race.

Newcastle had won seven of their eight previous top-flight fixtures, but Keegan was privately concerned that his side were becoming a little predictable.

So the Newcastle manager tweaked his starting line-up to accommodate Asprilla.

Gillespie recalled how the "balance of the team changed" as the Northern Irishman dropped out and Peter Beardsley moved over to the right.

"Going from the 4-4-2 we played, Peter was not a winger," he said. "Peter was not going to do what I did and go down the line and get crosses in for the likes of Les [Ferdinand] in the middle.

"But it was probably easy to drop me. I was the youngest player in the squad and I wasn't one to go knocking on doors and being confrontational with managers."

Gillespie, however, made it clear that Newcastle had signed "two great players" in Asprilla and fellow mid-season arrival David Batty, and he instead gave Manchester United "credit for the way they came back with that run".

The pair became easy targets for outsiders after Newcastle went on to lose out on the title to Manchester United, who won 13 of their final 15 league games.

But Keegan felt it was "scandalous" to blame Batty and Asprilla and instead pointed to a number of key players losing form.

Those who Asprilla shared a dressing room with felt similarly.

Albert recalled how there were training sessions when Asprilla was disinterested and "with us without being with us".

His poor timekeeping has also been well-documented.

But Asprilla was an immensely popular figure who Albert said was "one of us from day one".

Asprilla's concerned team-mates once even got a taxi to his house after he did not show up for a team lunch in Newcastle, only to find him asleep following a night on the town.

This was a "funny character" in the words of Given, who joined the club 18 months after Asprilla's arrival.

"Tino just had real personality on the pitch - and off it as well," he said. "His English wasn't great, but he knew a lot of swear words. I know that much."

He was also a player who was "unplayable" on his day - not least against Barcelona.

With Asprilla watching from the stands on Thursday, the current side do not have to look too far into the history books for inspiration, as Barton knows only too well.

"We didn't win anything that night, but Tino won the hearts of the fans," he said. "He will never be forgotten for that."