EMILIO BUTRAGUEÑO EL BUITRE (THE VULTURE)

Emilio Butragueño Santos, nicknamed El Buitre (meaning The Vulture in Spanish) is a former Spanish striker who spent most of his career in Real Madrid before moving to Atletico Celaya in Mexico.

Born on 22nd July 1963, El Buitre spent most of his career in Madrid scoring 160 goals in 406 appearances for Madrid (including B team goals and appearances). Along with Manolo Sanchís, Rafael Martín Vázquez, Miguel Pardeza and Michél, Butragueño formed the core of the Real Madrid team in the 1980's.

Initially Butragueño was interested in basketball; but his gym teacher José Antonio Sacristán, a Real Madrid fan, noticed the talent of the young Spaniard. El Buitre gave his first trials for Real Madrid, but the club just responded with "We'll call you". Contrastingly, city rivals Atletico Madrid were interested in the youngster and he started training for the Rojiblancos.

Butragueño's father was a member of Real Madrid. Seeing his son playing for Atletico Madrid, he felt unhappy. "But son, how can you play for Atletico Madrid?" - asked his father. "I cannot let this happen". And with some of hin father's contacts within the club, Butragueño was given a second chance and this time he was selected by Madrid's reputed academy - La Fabrica.

Butragueño made his senior debut for Real Madrid on 5th February 1984 and it was a memorable one to say the least. Madrid were trailing 2-0 away to Cadiz, until then Real Madrid manager Alfredo Di Stefano decided to introduce Butragueño to the pitch. Just 15 minutes later, El Buitre scored his first goal for Madrid to make it 2-1. Two minutes before full time, Butragueño would assist Gallego to level the scores before Butragueño himself won the match as he scored from a rebound to make it 3-2 for Madrid.

In the 1984/85 season, Real Madrid finished fifth in La Liga and Barcelona went on to become the league champions. Madrid needed to end their 6-year-drought without a league trophy and they did so in fashion; Madrid went on to win five league titles in a row with Butragueño being an integral part in all those campaigns. He also won two UEFA Cups and two Copa Del Rey titles. However, the closest he reached towards the UCL title was in 1988 where Real Madrid were knocked out by eventual champions PSV in the semi finals.

In the 1994/95 season, Butragueño played only 171 minutes as Madrid went on to win the La Liga after 4 years. A young Raúl was rising at the time and it was clear that Butragueño had to leave. He left for Atletico Celaya in 1995.

Butragueño reached the final of Liga MX in his first year in Mexico. Having spent three years over there, Butragueño scored 29 goals in 91 appearances.

Internationally, Butragueño has 69 caps for Spain scoring 28 goals. He made his international debut against Wales in the 1986 World Cup qualifiers. Earlier, he was selected for the 1984 Euro's squad but failed to make an appearance on the pitch. His best performance came in the 1986 World Cup, Butragueño scored 5 goals, with 4 of them coming against the same opponent Denmark. Butragueño also played in the 1990 World Cup but failed to register a single goal.

Butragueño won 6x La Liga's, 2x Copa Del Rey's, 1x Copa De La Liga, 4x Supercopa De España's, 2x UEFA Cup and 1x Copa IberioAmericana.

Individually, he won 2x Bravo award, 2x Ballon D'or third place, 1x Pichichi Trophy, 1x FIFA WC Silver Boot, 1x FIFA WC All Star Team appearance, appearance in FIFA 100 and also FICTS Hall Of Fame And Excellence Guirlande d'Honneur.

After his playing career, Butragueño joined the Real Madrid directorial Madrid and helped Madrid yet again to achieve success.