How highly was he rated during his peak years? Assuming his peak period was from 1998-2000 with Real Madrid, as he won UEFA Club Footballer of the Year in the 1999-2000 season. How highly was he rated during that period, and from an all-time standpoint in his position? Are there any reports from Spain or Argentina, or even around the world that attested to his quality on the football pitch? What were his best abilities on a football pitch, and what were the intangibles he had that made him one of the most highly rated midfielders in his era, and one of the best midfielders in the history of Argentina and Real Madrid?
Redondo was the heart of two CL winning Real Madrid sides and a Copa America winning Argentine side and probably the best two-way CM in his era, possibly making the all time top-10. Here is a somewhat better than average biopic on him before the CL final of 2000 against Valencia - One-touch perfectionist On a university campus just outside Boston, on a summer's day six years ago, the Argentine players were getting ready for the World Cup by playing a scratch game among themselves. So good was the mood that Diego Maradona stopped giving interviews and joined in. Every goal at either end was cheered by hundreds of rich Argentines studying in Boston. Yet it was quiet enough to hear the players shouting. And the word they shouted most often was 'Flaco!' None of the Argentine players was named Flaco, but in Latin America you only become a real person once you acquire a nickname, and 'Flaco' - 'Thin One' - was the sobriquet of Fernando Redondo. The reason everyone kept screaming it was that Redondo always seemed to have the ball. In this brilliant team, which but for a cocktail of ephedrine would have won the World Cup, all attacks ran through the long-haired, hippie-like figure at the back of midfield. So they do at Real Madrid, the team that on Wednesday night plays Valencia for the Champions League. Real's chances depend largely on El Flaco (or The Prince, or The White Machine). At his best he can destroy Manchester United. At his worst, he infuriates Johan Cruyff. And whether Redondo will be at his best depends largely on his team. Real Madrid have just overcome United and Bayern Munich, but a year ago, with much the same team, in the Spanish Cup semi-finals, they lost 6-0 to Valencia. 'San Marino, you are like San Marino,' sang the Valencia fans. So which Flaco and which Real will we get? Redondo was born 30 years ago in Adrogué in Buenos Aires. It is common to say of any Latin American footballer that the game helped him escape from the slums. This is not true of Redondo. A middle-class boy, he was studying law when Carlos Bilardo, then the Argentine manager, called him up for some friendlies before the World Cup of 1990. Redondo turned him down, saying he had to sit exams. The truth is more complex. There are two basic types of Argentine coaches: those such as Bilardo and Daniel Passarella, who think football is about breaking legs, diving for penalties and punching goals, and those such as Jorge Valdano, Cesar Luis Menotti and the current Argentine manager, Marcelo Bielsa, who think there is more to it. The latter tend to be educated men who compare football with poetry, music and countless other art forms. The Bilardistas are generally on the political right: Passarella captained the Argentine side that won the 1978 World Cup under the military regime. The Menottistas are mostly left-wingers. Redondo, an educated man of the left, is with the Menottistas. This is more than a matter of academic interest: it has shaped his career, and explains why he is at Real. After rejecting Bilardo, he moved to Europe to play for Tenerife, where his manager was Valdano. It was Valdano who brought him to Real Madrid in 1994, and it was Bielsa who recalled him to the Argentine side. Before the last World Cup Passarella had kicked Redondo out of the Argentine team. Famously, Redondo had ignored Passarella's edict to cut his hair. In fact, the hair was merely the excuse. The dispute went deeper: Passarella wanted Redondo to consider himself a soldier in his army. Redondo would not. Passarella ended up looking silly. Argentina went out of the World Cup in the quarter-finals, weeks after Redondo had helped Real Madrid win the Champions League. At Real, Redondo has won everything: two league titles and the World Club Cup, as well as the 'septima', the club's seventh European Cup. Yet it would be wrong to say that he has had six glorious years. Real are a crazy club, led by a president with a three-second attention-span, and Redondo has often been dragged down with the rest. This year Real have climbed out of the bottom half of the Spanish league but never got a whiff of the title. Their home defat on Friday means they have finished fifth and must win on Wednesday to return to next season's Champions League. 'Real Madrid have been playing fairly badly to very badly all year,' said Johan Cruyff in March. 'I don't think there is a team in the world where the midfield loses so many balls. You can't count how many Redondo loses.' Redondo is often called the master of the one-touch. 'Tactically perfect,' said his former coach Fabio Capello. But when his team-mates are not moving, he can appear helpless. He lacks acceleration, is often carrying injuries, and sometimes seems not to care. Then he becomes the master of the two or three-touch, passing needlessly to defenders, slowing the game down. Real have continued to falter, but this spring they have at least played well in the big games. A month ago they saved their season by beating Manchester United 3-2 at Old Trafford, chiefly thanks to Redondo. Playing further forward than usual, he also produced the moment of this year's Champions League. First, it must be said that humiliating United's Henning Berg is a realistic proposition. It has been done before, usually by Berg himself. But Redondo defined the art. Sprinting with Berg to the goalline, he back-heeled the ball through the Norwegian's legs, collected it and passed to Raúl who scored Real's third goal. Later Rinus Michels, the authoritarian former manager of Holland, was asked about that back-heel. Surely he would never have tolerated it? 'That boy,' said Michels, 'would never have heard anything about it from me.' Alex Ferguson noted that all loose balls that night had seemed to fall to Redondo. 'What does this player have in his boots?' Ferguson asked. 'A magnet?' Redondo is indeed more than a playmaker - at his best, he hoovers the midfield. United escaped lightly. In the semi-finals Redondo and Raúl deliberately humiliated Bayern Munich. At times the two had fun simply passing to each other, making jokes about Carsten Jancker as the huge striker lumbered after the ball. More than once Redondo showed the ball to Bayern's Stefan Effenberg, waited for Effenberg to pounce, and then rolled it to a team-mate. The Germans also sulked about a particularly frivolous bicycle-kick by Roberto Carlos. This, they felt, was bad manners. In this Real side, Redondo and Raúl - perhaps the two key players - are best mates. Both like their peace before games. In the next few days, while his colleague Steve McManaman whiles away the time watching films and Nicolas Anelka and Geremi are busy on their Playstations, Redondo and Raúl will be reading bound volumes of paper known as books. The Thin One enjoys Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez and Italian fashion magazines. Wednesday could be Redondo's day: Anelka, Raúl and Fernando Morientes are exactly the quick forwards he needs. Alternatively, Valencia could win 6-0 again. He had great short passing and dribbling abilities, although his lack of speed and general tendency to sit back during his team's attacks caused these to not be used as well as they could have been. He was also very astute tactically - especially in his ability to intercept passes through great positioning and his decision making in breaking up opposition counter attacks through tactical fouling, an aspect that can often be seen in his play as a defensive CM. Some examples of his skill can be seen in the below videos - Above has him providing the assist after some great short passing in the 94 WC. Above is a WC 1994 qualifier against Paraguay wherein he scored the winner after a great run (watch from 1:26 onwards).
Very good post Estel. Keep it up with more details please. I love Redondo as well, and I think he and Zanetti were among the "underrated Argentina greats". He was playing in the era of transition from very defensive ( from late 80s' ) to starting attacking a lot of late 90's - his peak at Real (a big club in winning and dominating in style) so that he was kinda under looked in that point of view! Only if he would be born 15 years later (at present- where possession football is revived) he would be appreciated even more for his quality= bossing MF!
Very possibly, the best defensive mid of all time. Passarella cannot be forgiven for not taking him to the World Cup.
calling Redondo a DM is just misleading and degrade his talent. Redondo was among the very complete CM, a type of deep lying playmaker ... and of course he could defend great here is more likely to reflect his game (comparing to Valderama) look at his ability to make sudden long cross, or sudden one touch short pass (just like older Vaderama)
He had the skills to be a playmaker, but his main position was DM altough his style was very technical and willing to go forward. The type of DM exemplified by Rikjaard, Toninho Cerezo, Tigana, Davids, Viera, Kean, DeRossi, Albertini, Cambiasso, Busquets. The other more limited type is mostly the ball winner and quick release, such as M Silva, Dunga, Gallego, Makelele, Deschamps, Mascherano, Albelda, Carrick, Gilberto.
Cerezo, Tigana, Edgar Davids and Veira were all CM not pure DM. They always got or required a pure DM next to them ... especially Cerezo and Tigana For example, Veira always got Gilbeto Silva (Arsenal) and Makelele (French squad) Tigana had Fernandez as true DM behind the Carre's Magiques Cerezo was another half CM, half playmaker ... and was "forced to play" as a DM in Brazil 82 since others MF were betetr than him in attack (Zico, Socrates Falcao and Eder) Edgar Davids used to be a "playmaker" of the great Ajax, after a small spell at Milan, he came to Juve there he gotta change his style since Juve already based on Zidane as playmaker, and Deschamps was main DM there.
For Brazil, Cerezo was the DM, but it's true at Sampdoria he had a more workmanlike Briegel next to him.
exactly so ... Look, it might sound "discriminated" but NO TRUE DM would be named as a "GOD " for their team nor become a "legend" for such workmanship. Veira was voted as best MF of whole decade in EPL and was like a (semi) God at Arsenal - Cerezo was regarded as a KEY player for Samdora ... However, Deschamps or Makelele great DM never regarded as a "god " at any clubs
Does anyone have a picture of Redondo with the UEFA Club Footballer of the year award he got in 2000? I googled it but could not find anything.