Hunting in Pairs: Emilio Butragueno and Hugo Sanchez

Written by Faraz Ali Khan on March 26, 2019

Real Madrid has just ended a supreme run in continental football which will take some doing to match in future. It’s a perfect time to look back at one of their prime striker duo from another era gone by. They grew up in contrasting circumstances but when their paths crossed, they surely got together to lighten up the big stage. Presented to you by Faraz Ali Khan at Goalden Times.

The Current State

“Real Madrid is a legendary team that stands above all the others and is the target of all the players.” Franz Beckenbaur^[1]

The above statement rings truer than ever, considering that the club has currently more or less monopolized European football. (They have won four out of the last five UEFA Champions Leagues). Although Madrid’s superstars, including Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo, and Cristiano Ronaldo have had unprecedented success in Europe; they have also perennially come up short in La Liga, failing to surpass the feats of Miguel Munoz’s Real, Johann Cruyff’s Dream Team, or Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. However, there’s another Real Madrid side that has done exceptionally well in domestic tournaments when compared to both versions of Galacticos or even the Zidane led team of non Galacticos- the La Quinta del Buitre². The team had a completely different philosophy than the one adhered to by Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid and the father of the Galacticos policy.

The term La Quinta del Buitre³ was used to talk about certain players of the Madrid cantera not just The five players thus referred to, were:

Manuel Sanchis: a defender who wished to play in midfield.
Jose Michel: someone who adapted himself to play in the central midfield, and kept that position for a decade.
Martin Vazqueza: a blond, ambipedal trequartista, who passed the ball as and when he liked.
Miguel Pardeza: the one who left the club for more game time.
Emilio Butragueno: the myth, the generational emblem, and the player least expected to make Real Madrid’s first team. Butragueno joined the club at the age of 19, and had unique physical features to aid his footballing feats. He had long arms, short legs, a strange haircut, and a marked tendency to perplex the opposition’s defence. His given nickname was El Buitre, meaning “the vulture”.

La Quinta Del Buitre means “The Vulture Squadron” – a phrase that has very obviously been derived directly from Butragueno’s nickname. This squad made its debut under the tutelage of Alfredo Di Stefano — arguably Real Madrid’s greatest legend — and went on to replicate his success by winning five consecutive domestic titles and two UEFA Cups. Unfortunately, they never received their due credit during their active years, and have only recently attained their legendary status.

Background

The early 1980s were not the greatest years for Real Madrid. The domestic title was being shared between the Basque clubs Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao for four consecutive years. Madrid also lost the 1981 European Cup final against Liverpool. Things got worse in 1983, when they finished runners up in La Liga, Copa del Rey, as well as in the Cup Winner’s Cup (erstwhile UEFA Cup). This led to their fans chanting “Castilla” in the galleries of Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. “Castilla” is the name of Real Madrid’s academy team, and they were performing exceptionally in their league. They often played in front of a packed Santiago Bernabeu⁴, with 80,000 people cheering them on. They won the domestic title in 1984, qualified for the finals of Copa Del Rey in 1980 where they lost to the senior team – (a feat unmatched in European history where the senior team was playing against the junior team in the final), and finished in the quarters of the tournament in 1984. The first team, meanwhile, had gone through an unforeseen four games without scoring a goal — a feat that was only repeated in 2018. Clearly, things were not working out for the senior squad. It was time for the “Vultures” to fly out of their Castilla nest, and Alfredo Di Stefano was ready to give them a chance. “We were weak and when you are weak, you look behind at the kids coming through. I saw kids that played well and I put them in, that’s it”⁵, he said.

Debuts

They made their debuts in the following order — first Michel, then Butragueno, followed by Vazquez, Sanchis, and Pardeza. And since we are talking about debuts, it would be a shame to not specially mention Butragueno’s first match — something straight out of a fairy-tale. Real Madrid were playing the Andalusians, and were trailing by two goals at half time. It was then that the coach Alfredo Di Stefano went up to a 20-year-old Butragueno sitting on the bench and uttered, “Nene, calenta.” (Kid, warm up). The kid duly obliged and was introduced in the second half. 15 minutes later he fired the ball into the bottom corner from outside the box — making the score 2-1. 88 minutes up, with his team trailing 1-2, he set up Ricardo Gallego to net the equalizer. A minute later, he himself pounced on a rebound from Juanito to score the winner. This amazing performance led to Butra’s promotion to the first team in the same season (1984-85), where he made nine more appearances and scored two more goals. Now the five players were playing in front of a packed Bernabeu on a regular basis. However, Emilio and his cohorts’ promotions didn’t yield immediate success, as Madrid finished a lowly fifth in La Liga — their lowest point tally since 1977 when they had scored 34 points and placed ninth from the top. They finished 17 points behind Liga winners Barcelona, closer to the bottom of the table and only seven points above the relegation zone. However, they did win their first Europa Cup, with Butragueno contributing four magnificent goals. Luis Molowny was appointed the manager towards the end of their mixed 1984-85 season, and things started to improve. The squad had a rich supply of home-grown talent ready to take the domestic and European circuit by storm. However, they lacked cutting edge performances in front of the goal (46 goals were scored in 38 La Liga games – their lowest tally since 1972).

Hugo Sanchez

A young Hugo Sanchez had established himself as a lethal goal-scoring machine within the underdeveloped football scenes of the Mexican leagues. Nicknamed Nino de Oro (Golden Boy), he scored over 100 times during his five seasons there. His good form coincided with a golden age for his club, Pumas UNAM. They went on to win the title in his debut season, and later won the CONCACAF Championship Cup as well as the Copa Interamericana in 1980-81. Eventually, however, he bid them adieu and moved to Spain in order to play for Real Madrid’s cross-town rivals, Atletico Madrid, in 1981. Struggling for game time and confidence in his initial season, he still managed to score twelve goals for the Los Colchoneros across all competitions. He regained his magic touch in subsequent seasons. He played a pivotal role for Atletico from 1981 to 1985, winning Copa del Rey and Supercopa de Espana trophies in 1985, ending as runners-up in La Liga, and winning the first of his five Pichichi awards (awarded to the top scorer of the League), courtesy his 19 goals. Overall, he played 120 games, scoring 58 goals for Atletico. This incredible achievement brought him into the limelight, and he finally joined Real Madrid’s young team in the summer of 1985. The pair was in place, and the hunting now began.

Forging the Partnership

At Real, the homegrown Quinta met the Newell’s Old Boys graduate Jorge Valdano, Jose Antonio Camacho, Juanito, Rafael Gordillo, and the leading Pichichi star Hugo Sanchez. Thus, a partnership was forged between the local lad donning the number 7 jersey (Butragueno) and the exotic number 9 import who was an expert in scoring goals (Hugo). With Miguel Pardeza out on loan at Zaragoza ahead of his permanent move, Hugo became the fifth member of La Quinta — despite being a purchased foreigner instead of a Real Madrid Academy graduate. The attacking duo immediately started scoring and creating for each other. For the next six years, this duo was integral to Madrid’s domination of La Liga. In each of those years, the Pichichi award was shared between the two of them.

La Liga Domination

1985-86: Luis Molowny was appointed coach towards the end of the previous season (1984-85), and he sought to address the lack of goals for the squad. Hugo Sanchez formed a quick understanding with 22-year-old Butragueno (12 goals) and Valdano (16 goals), as the Mexican scored 22 times that season. The goals by the duo led the team to the domestic title. It was their 21^st such win, after a hiatus of five years. They finished 12 points, 22 goals, and eight victories ahead of the second placed Barcelona.

1986-87: Leo Beenhakker was appointed head coach of Madrid at the start of the season. This Donald Trump lookalike went on to become their fourth most successful coach, as the club went on to win another La Liga title the following year. ‘Hugol’ Sanchez scored 34 times and Butragueno scored 11 times, as the duo’s chemistry and skill skyrocketed. Barcelona was left in the second place yet again. Such was the panache of the diarchy comprising Hugo and Emilio that their team lost a total of five times in the 44-game-La Liga of that season. They won nine of those matches with a margin of greater than three goals. To give you a perspective of their prowess, the attacking duo didn’t start together in two games, and both those matches ended goalless.

1987-88: The Butragueno-Sanchez partnership reached its zenith this season. The duo helped Madrid score 21 goals in its first four fixtures. Opponents, aware of the danger this pair caused, committed several players in marking them. Counterintuitively, this created space for other Madrid players to score at will. The Butragueno-Sanchez partnership scored 41 goals of the team’s 96 as they beat opponents by scorelines such as 4-0 (thrice), 5-0 (twice), 6-0 and 7-0 (thrice). The attackers got Madrid the first spot on the table in the first game week itself, a spot they never relinquished till the end of the season. They won the third consecutive Lida title, finishing 9 points ahead of runners up Real Sociedad. With the pair ensuring a complete domination of the domestic trophy, Madrid set their sights on long-awaited European glory.

1988-89: The attacking prowess of Butragueno-Sanchez led to a monopoly in La Liga, yet this domestic success was not being reflected in the European Cup. It was 1988, the club had its best squad in a generation, and president Ramon Mendoza pulled out all stops. Landing one of the captains of a tax-troubled Barcelona was another feather in Real Madrid’s cap. After an uncharacteristic slow start where the pair scored only one goal combined, and the club dropped six points in the first three gameweeks, their chemistry sparkled to life as they scored 11 of Madrid’s 22 goals in an eight-match winning streak. The back-to-back victories and the attacking impetus led Madrid to the top of the table in gameweek eight, a position they maintained for 28 of the remaining 30 gameweeks. Goals came from all across the squad as Hugo Sanchez-Emilio contributed 42 of the club’s 91-goal haul. A combined eight braces and one hattrick led Madrid to beat their opponents by margins of greater than three goals on 11 occasions en route their fourth consecutive Liga. The partnership continued its winning streak, with Hugo Sanchez scoring 27 goals, and Butragueno chipping in with another 15.

Individual Styles

Asked on air about attributes of the perfect player, Butragueno stated that he would need to have the intelligence of Johann Cruyff, the pace of Gento, the eye for goal of Hugo Sanchez, the aerial prowess of Santillana, the dribbling of Diego Maradona, and the confidence of Jose Antonio Camacho. While the player he was describing was imaginary, it wasn’t far off from what Emilio Butragueno himself was in real life. He was a pretty footballer, who played pretty football in the muddy pitches amidst agricultural tackles. His dreamy blue eyes, light curly locks, and perfect smile made him look more like a teenage Rishi Kapoor than a striker. Yet, he was a leader at Real Madrid for over a decade.

On the other hand, Hugo Sanchez’s short stint with gymnastics was evident throughout his footballing career. His composure, balance, and elegance were a treat to the eyes. Like any striker, he had a fair share of tap-ins, but he usually brought in a touch of showmanship, and sometimes even melodrama to the business of scoring goals. Free-kicks that seemed to swerve impossibly to find the net from absurd angles, diving headers from improbable distances, and, above all, the chilena (the bicycle-kick) – these were the kind of goals that those privileged to be in the stadiums would always remember. Each of these goals were, of course, followed by his trademark front-flip celebration. These antics were not a result of a thirst for adulation or acceptance, but a combination of his predilection to entertain and his flamboyant natural instinct. This flamboyance stemmed from his family that was steeped in football. His father Sanchez Sr. was a part time footballer and full-time idol of his adoring son, while Hugo’s sister was a star gymnast representing Mexico in the 1976 Montreal games. To compare to modern greats, Hugo Sanchez combined the acrobatic ability of Zlatan Ibrahimovich with the tenacity of Luis Suarez.

Together they complemented each other. Butragueno’s innate dribbling ability, close control, and ruthless knack for assisting goals was the yin to Hugo Sanchez’s yang-like destructive finishing. Butragueno floated around the D-box looking for an opportunity, while Hugo ran off the last defender trying to tap in yet another goal with his first touch. Speaking of first touches, Hugo Sanchez has a record of scoring all 38 goals in a Liga season with his first touch, a record that still remains unbroken.

We had players who complemented each other,” remembers Butragueño, “and happened to find themselves on the same team at the same time.”⁶

European Shortcomings

As has been iterated, the golden generation of La Quinta del Buitre constantly came up short when it came to European glory. The duo, whose chemistry made their opponents’ defenders look like amateurs, failed to produce the goods in the European tournaments. The faithful and spoilt fans were obsessed with La Septima, something that had been elusive since 1966. The 1986-87 season provided them their first real chance of bringing the European Cup back to the Bernabeu. The duo combined to score three goals as the Swiss champions Young Boys were beaten 5-1 on aggregate. The Giovanni Trapattoni and Michel Platini-led Juventus awaited them next. The tie finished 1-1 on aggregate, leading to a penalty shootout. Butragueno scored the lone goal in the shootout as Juventus failed to stop the Spanish club from reaching the quarter finals. Butragueno-Sanchez continued their chemistry, scoring three of the four goals against Red Star Belgrade — setting up a clash with Bayern Munich, where they ran into the Lothar Matthaus. Hugo Sanchez was injured in the first leg, and Butragueno’s solitary goal couldn’t stop Bayern’s domination. Two red cards in the first leg worsened things as Madrid never recovered from conceding four goals in the first leg. They eventually bowed out of the competition, losing the tie 2-4.

The subsequent season (1987-88) saw Madrid lock horns with Diego Maradona’s Napoli. The Bernabeu was closed due to the actions of the Ultra Sur in response to the Juanito-Matthaus episode⁷ at the Olympiastadion at Munich, and the home games were being played in Valencia. With Hugo sitting out the first leg, Butragueno produced the goods in a game that was arguably his finest in the white jersey. Sanchez returned to the starting line-up, and scored one goal as defending champions Porto were defeated with an aggregate score of 4-2. The quarter finals saw a rerun of the previous season’s semi-finals, with Madrid drawing Bayern Munich yet again. Lothar Matthaus and company continued to overpower Madrid by stifling their attack and hitting them on the break. The German team was cruising at 3-0 by the hour mark and the score line stayed that way till the 85th minute. Subdued the entire tournament as a pair, Madrid’s attacking duo miraculously found their form at the best possible time. Butragueno tapped one in with his right foot, reducing the deficit to 1-3 in the 85th minute. Right afterwards, Hugo Sanchez rifled in a direct free kick during injury time to end the game at Olympistadion at 2-3. The goals breathed in new belief in the team and they scored two more first-half goals in the Bernabeu leg of the tie — winning 4-3 on aggregate. The Madrid outfit drew against PSV Eindhoven who were under the tutelage of a young Guus Hiddink in his debut season. Sanchez scored the opener in the 6th minute from the penalty spot. That was all the attacking duo could muster up as PSV’s veteran goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen seemed to be possessed by the spirit of Lev Yeshin that day. Breukelen repeatedly thwarted the unending attacks by Real Madrid. PSV won the tie on away goals and advanced to the finals. Madrid was yet again ousted in the semi-finals. 1987-88, was a tale of what could have been, with Real president Ramon Mendoza describing it as “The year we went close to winning so much more.” Despite eliminating Diego Maradona’s Napoli, defending champions FC Porto, and their conquerors of the previous year — Bayern Munich, Madrid were undone in the last four by the tournament’s surprise package and eventual winners, PSV Eindhoven. The Butragueno-Sanchez duo, despite scoring 41 goals in La Liga alone, couldn’t replicate those performances in Europe. “That night was terrible because Eindhoven were not the best team we had played in Europe that season. We had eliminated the Napoli of Maradona, defending champions Porto, and Bayern Munich. In those days there was only one representative per country,” Butragueño recalls, “it was a tremendous competition. We drew the first game at home one each, but we were unable to score away and were eliminated.” “We did everything well,” says Michel, “but we did not get the result we wanted. Injustice fuels sport and that was an opportunity which inexplicably eluded us. Although we did our best it was not good enough for the trophy.” “The dressing room,” say Butragueño, “was very sad, especially the veterans who saw what was probably their final chance to win the trophy slipping through their fingers. In fact, at the airport in Amsterdam on the way home I told Sanchis: “Manolo, I do not know if we will have another opportunity like this.”^[5]

In 1988-89, Madrid defeated Moss FK and Gornik Zarbze, scoring four goals against each of them on aggregate. Hugo Sanchez and Butragueno started replicating their Liga form in Europe as they shared six of those eight goals from the first two rounds equally. Madrid again drew PSV Eindhoven. The attacking duo scored once each against a deep-defending PSV, with both legs ending at 1-1. At the end of 180 minutes, the score stood at 2-2. With Butragueno on the bench, it fell upon Martin Vazquez to score a 105^th minute winner, sending Madrid into the semi-finals for the third time running. This was Madrid’s best attacking line up and they were increasingly the favourites against AC Milan, who were struggling with domestic woes of their own. Arrigo Sacchi was at the helm and his Milan side featured Carlo Ancelotti, Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, and Roberto Donadoni. All of them scored in the return leg in San Siro, humiliating Real Madrid by winning the tie 6-1. Hugo Sanchez’s goal in the first leg counted for nothing, as the 5-0 masterclass in football went on to become a legendary match. Milan only went from strength to strength after this match, going to have some of its best years.

Madrid rang in changes in the 1989-90 season, appointing John Toshack as manager from Real Sociedad. Winning the European Cup was his sole objective. Domestically, his team went on to score 107 goals, a record that held till Jose Mourinho eclipsed it in 2011-12. Hugo Sanchez scored an unprecedented 38 goals, a record that has only been broken by the statistical unicorns of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in recent years. However, every single Sanchez goal was scored by the first touch⁸ — a record which still stands. Toshak’s Madrid ran into Sacchi’s Milan in the round of 16, where they conceded two goals by Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten in the first leg at San Siro. A vengeful 82,750-strong Santiago Bernabeu lay in wait for retribution in the return leg. Things reached boiling point when Butragueno scored at halftime, balancing the tie at 1-2. Committing too many men in attack and relying on three inexperienced central defenders – 23-year-old Julio Gento, 21-year-old Fernando Hierro, and 24-year-old Manolo Sanchis — wasn’t the best tactical setup. The game was lost in extravagant tackles and violent incidents. The squad was top-heavy with all the attention being paid to flashy players playing at the tip of the formation — lavish strikers supported by creative midfielders. Not much focus was given to the players at the base of the formation, which led to the team conceding possession and goals. This was demonstrated by the team going on to concede a large number of goals in the latter stages of the tournament.

In the 1990-91 season, Madrid blazed into the quarter-finals by scoring 21 goals over two rounds. Butragueno and Sanchez scored eight goals among themselves, despite having been rested for one leg each and never starting together. Sanchez was injured and missed the first leg against Spartak Moscow in the quarter-finals, which ended 0-0. The return leg at the Bernabeu started well with Butragueno netting the opener in the ninth minute before their inexperienced defence mucked things up. By the end of the game, they had conceded three goals. This home defeat signalled an end to this most fascinating of Real Madrid eras. “Spartak were a level above us” Butragueno declared about that particular game. “They played very well and deserved to progress, what more is there to say? It was clear our era was over. We should have won the European Cup in 1987/88, we were unlucky to lose the semi-final to PSV. From the following season we could not win because there was a better team: AC Milan.”^[7]

Downfall

All good things must come to an end. As the team won their fifth Liga on the trot in 1989-90, signs of internal distress started surfacing. Johan Cruyff was about to be sacked, but he saved his job by winning the Copa del Rey final 2-0 against Madrid. Bernd Schuster and Martin Vazquez announced their departures from the club, and this crisis in Madridismo reflected in Spain’s poor performance in the World Cup of 1990. The departures negated the positive atmosphere in the Santiago Bernabeu. Cruyff’s dream team started dominating La Liga, winning the 1990-91 edition, while Madrid languished in the third position, behind city rivals Atletico Madrid. Hugo Sanchez started the season brightly, scoring six goals in the first six games, but had a string of injuries that forced him to miss almost the entire second half of the season. Butragueno shifted to a more central role, and after scoring 19 goals, claimed the Pichichi award. However, the partnership was effectively over.

The next season (1991-92) confirmed this change in power. Barcelona continued making history by defending their Liga title and going on to retain it four times in a row. Hugo Sanchez was injured for almost the entirety of 1991, and scored three goals on return before he shifted back to Mexico, finally breaking up the partnership. He was replaced by Ivan Zamorano, signed from Sevilla. Butragueno formed a partnership with him and even if it did yield numbers on the scoreboard, it didn’t translate into trophies. His consistency waned and numbers started dropping. In 1994-95, Jorge Valdano joined Madrid as manager. He transitioned another homegrown cantera to replace Butragueno and inherit his number 7 jersey — Raul Gonzalez was born. Butragueno left for Mexico and joined Atletico Celaya, where he was later reunitied with Michel and his chief accomplice, Hugo Sanchez.

Reunion

Emilio Butragueno joined Mexican club Atletico Celaya in 1995-96 and transformed the fortunes of this two-year-old club. Under his leadership, Celaya reached the domestic finals, only losing the title to defending champions Necaxa on away goals. Michel and Hugo Sanchez joined Celaya⁹ in 1996. However, they never managed to repeat their achievement of entering the domestic finals. Hugo Sanchez scored a total of only two goals during this stint. Butragueno, though, went on to become a club legend — playing 91 games and scoring 29 goals.

Conclusion

The dissimilar playing styles of the duo continued even post-retirement. Emilio Butragueno has joined the administration of Real Madrid, serving his childhood club in various capacities, while Hugo Sanchez has continued flitting between Spain and Mexico as the manager of various teams. Yet, years after their retirement, their legacy lives on in the Spanish teams that dominated Europe and the world from 2008 onwards. The current superstar teams have a clear reference point in the past, a door opened by La Quinta del Buitre and followed in their own style by Cruyff’s dream team in Barcelona.

References

Stats

About Faraz Ali Khan

Engineer by profession. Madridista by passion

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