"The Ballon d'Or is worth nothing, because Michael Laudrup never won it", said Joseph Guardiola before he became a successful manager. Whether that statement makes sense is an endless discussion but the Danish architect is certainly widely seen among the best through-ball specialists and passers in history, especially at short to medium distances. And that even while sending the final ball was just one of his many tasks and not necessarily the main one. It has been said as well that his 'Dream Team' used to play well when he had his day. If he played fluid without hesitation, irrespective of whether he decorated his matches with goals and assists, then his team functioned well too. Like a real playmaker, he had as many assists as goals in European competitions - while he wasn't a set piece specialist. At Barcelona it was the job of Koeman and Stoichkov; both curled the ball towards the penalty area or made a direct effort on goal - see the famous goal against Kaiserslautern as most notable example. This does not count the pre-assists or the many instances where he thought a few steps ahead. Some examples of a pre-assist: Obviously, it does not include instances where he drew a penalty kick (Galatasaray 1994) and at some other instances he was miraculously deprived from a goal (Otelul 1988; strangely counted as an own goal). 1985/1986 18/09/1985 --- Jeunesse Esch - Juventus 0:5 1 goal [played 60 minutes] 23/10/1985 --- Hellas Verona - Juventus 0:0 06/11/1985 --- Juventus - Hellas Verona 2:0 05/03/1986 --- Barcelona - Juventus 1:0 19/03/1986 --- Juventus - Barcelona 1:1 1 assist 1986/1987 17/09/1986 --- Juventus - Valur 7:0 3 goals 01/10/1986 --- Valur - Juventus 0:4 2 goals 22/10/1986 --- Real Madrid - Juventus 1:0 [played 75 minutes] 05/11/1986 --- Juventus - Real Madrid 1:0 [played 75 minutes] 1987/1988 16/09/1987 --- Valletta - Juventus 0:4 2 goals 1 assist 30/09/1987 --- Juventus - Valletta 3:0 [played 45 minutes] 21/10/1987 --- Panathinaikos - Juventus 1:0 04/11/1987 --- Juventus - Panathinaikos 3:2 1988/1989 07/09/1988 --- Otelul - Juventus 1:0 12/10/1988 --- Juventus - Otelul 5:0 1 assist 26/10/1988 --- Juventus - Athletic Bilbao 5:1 2 goals 1 assist [played 80 minutes] 09/11/1988 --- Athletic Bilbao - Juventus 3:2 1 goal 1 assist 23/11/1988 --- Liege - Juventus 0:1 1 assist 07/12/1988 --- Juventus - Liege 1:0 01/03/1989 --- Juventus - Napoli 2:0 [played 18 minutes] 15/03/1989 --- Napoli - Juventus 3:0 1989/1990 13/09/1989 --- Barcelona – Legia Warsawa 1:1 27/09/1989 --- Legia Warsawa – Barcelona 0:1 1 goal 18/10/1989 --- Anderlecht – Barcelona 2:0 1990/1991 03/10/1990 --- Barcelona – Trabzonspor 7:2 1 assist [played 65 minutes] 23/10/1990 --- Fram – Barcelona 1:2 1 assist [played 60 minutes] 07/11/1990 --- Barcelona – Fram 3:0 06/03/1991 --- Dynamo Kiev – Barcelona 2:3 1 assist [played 60 minutes] 10/04/1991 --- Barcelona – Juventus 3:1 2 assists 24/04/1991 --- Juventus – Barcelona 1:0 [played 65 minutes] 15/05/1991 --- Manchester United – Barcelona 2:1 1991/1992 18/09/1991 --- Barcelona – Hansa Rostock 3:0 2 goals 02/10/1991 --- Hansa Rostock – Barcelona 1:0 23/10/1991 --- Barcelona – Kaiserslautern 2:0 06/11/1991 --- Kaiserslautern – Barcelona 3:1 27/11/1991 --- Barcelona – Sparta Prague 3:2 1 goal 11/12/1991 --- Benfica – Barcelona 0:0 04/03/1992 --- Dynamo Kiev – Barcelona 0:2 1 assist [played 55 minutes] 18/03/1992 --- Barcelona – Dynamo Kiev 3:0 1 assist 01/04/1992 --- Sparta Prague – Barcelona 1:0 15/04/1992 --- Barcelona – Benfica 2:1 [played 80 minutes] 20/05/1992 --- Barcelona – Sampdoria 1:0 1992/1993 16/09/1992 --- Barcelona – Viking 1:0 [played 80 minutes] 30/09/1992 --- Viking – Barcelona 0:0 21/10/1992 --- CSKA – Barcelona 1:1 1 assist 04/11/1992 --- Barcelona – CSKA 2:3 1993/1994 15/09/1993 --- Dynamo Kiev – Barcelona 3:1 29/09/1993 --- Barcelona – Dynamo Kiev 4:1 1 goal 20/10/1993 --- Barcelona – Austria Viena 3:0 24/11/1993 --- Galatasaray – Barcelona 0:0 08/12/1993 --- Barcelona – Monaco 2:0 1 assist 30/03/1994 --- Barcelona – Galatasaray 3:0 1994/1995 13/09/1994 --- Real Madrid – Sporting Lisbon 1:0 27/09/1994 --- Sporting Lisbon – Real Madrid 2:1 1 goal 01/11/1994 --- Real Madrid – Dynamo Moscow 4:0 1 assist 22/11/1994 --- Odense – Real Madrid 2:3 1 goal 1 assist 06/12/1994 --- Real Madrid – Odense 0:2 1995/1996 27/09/1995 --- Real Madrid – Grasshoppers 2:0 [played 70 minutes] 18/10/1995 --- Real Madrid – Ferencvaros 6:1 [played 60 minutes] 01/11/1995 --- Ferencvaros – Real Madrid 1:1 22/11/1995 --- Real Madrid – Ajax 0:2 [played 70 minutes] 06/12/1995 --- Grasshoppers – Real Madrid 0:2 [played 70 minutes] 06/03/1996 --- Real Madrid – Juventus 1:0 1 assist [played 65 minutes] 20/03/1996 --- Juventus – Real Madrid 2:0 1997/1998 16/09/1997 --- Maribor – Ajax 1:1 [played 70 minutes] 25/11/1997 --- Ajax – Bochum 4:2 2 goals 1 assist [played 70 minutes] 11/12/1997 --- Bochum – Ajax 2:2 [played 65 minutes] 03/03/1998 --- Ajax – Spartak Moscow 1:3 17/03/1998 --- Spartak Moscow – Ajax 1:0 Note: no info about 1981/1982 season (for KB) Summary: 69 games, 20 goals (0PK), ~19 assists [including two Supercup games it is 71 games] Assists counted as strictly as possible. Summarizing profile: http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/fourfourtwoview/archive/2010/09/03/my-perfect-10-michael-laudrup.aspx
I do rate M. Laurup highly. He was not inferior to Zidane if not perfectly equal in skills. The main difference between him and Zidane are: - Zidane was more consistent in performance (at club level) - Zidane played and was successful with France at WC98 and Euro2000 level - Zidane appeared to be a big game player (more than Laudrup) For the 3 above, Zidane was regarded as a better playmaker
Stats: Zidane: euro96: 0 assists, 0 goals, 5 games WC98: 1 assist, 2 goals, 5 games euro00: 1 assist, 2 goals (1PK), 5 games WC02: 0 assists, 0 goals, 1 games euro04: 0 assists, 4 goals (1PK), 4 games WC06: 1 assist, 3 goals (2PK), 6 games Laudrup: euro84: 2 assists, 0 goals, 4 games WC86: 2 assists, 1 goal, 4 games euro88: 0 assists, 1 goal, 3 games euro96: 1 assist, 0 goals, 3 games WC98: 2 assists, 1 goal, 5 games
Thanks for the their stats (especially for Laudrup_) (I said "successful" = WON the CUP as big + for Zidane)
Interesting to compare the Juventus-Barcelona highlights from 1985/86 and the Barcelona-Juventus highlights from 1990/91 (with Laudrup firstly playing for Juventus and then for Barcelona) - I feel he might actually have played better for Juventus and had at least 3 chances created (final pass) and a potential pre-assist as well as his actual assist to Platini in the first half alone. Barcelona progressed both times though, and he did also play well and got two excellent assists to Stoichkov in the 1991 game. These are the home games for Laudrup, which are the ones he got the assists in as shown above by Puck: Good choices of videos with the pre-assists shown by Puck in the initial post IMO.
That are excellent videos PDG. Yes, his ability to think a few/many steps ahead was very good. Therefore it is not appropriate to only judge him on the goals and assists made. His versatility was another noteworthy quality. On the wing, second striker, side midfielder, center forward, attacking midfielder - it was all a reasonable option. The chances created thread made me again realize that in the 90s many nations had a player - or players - with a "world class" skillset. Austria (Herzog), Romania (Hagi), Bulgaria (Balakov), Portugal (Rui Costa), Netherlands (Bergkamp), Belgium (Nilis), Sweden (Brolin) etc. had all superb players with a great, varied and entertaining skillset. This are only the European nations. Don't see that lately. Barnetta, Ayew (who do well at recent World Cups) etc. are not quite the same level or have the same skillset. But of all 90s players Laudrup is certainly a personal favorite. Unfortunately I don't have all games complete for national team but I think he has at least 30 assists for the national team. In the 30-40 range. Was collecting info for these games in the past few years. Hopefully I can present it at some day in full detail too.
Just realised I posted a Laudrup video in the passing thread now with his play from the game vs Dynamo Kiev at home in 91/92 and it's not one of the ones already posted here, so I think it's worth adding now:
No problem - I'd seen most of the (notable) contents but hadn't watched that particular video in full before today either. Thought it would add to the thread - includes a few good passes and a dribble/assist so is a good brief summary of his game I suppose.
Great find's and clip's of Laudrup. The great Dane paved the way for the like's of Zidane, Rui Costa, Xavi/Iniesta and to a certain extent Riquelme though I do find it laughable when some put him on the same pedestal as Michael Laudrup. It's almost like Laudrup was plying his trade 20 year's too early, imagine the notiriety if he was playing today. Imagine if he was Argentinian, Brazilian or with any other bigger nation for that matter with the same ability and success.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378357/ Michael Laudrup. A bit of a late bloomer. pic.twitter.com/T7skXbN35v— Goalimpact (@Goalimpact) July 24, 2016
There are also good/intriguing comments by himself. On 56:19 he says "it is rare to see a bad [functioning] team with one player playing 3-4 brilliant passes", and he explains this from his perspective. Also that Michel Platini said after a few days training with him, when he arrived at Juventus: "He is one of the greatest talents of all-time". Yes, this is a very good find by you. As a 'time document' and so on. It has also a lot of nice close-up footage during games. As for 'regulating coincidence' - there is a fair bit of that in the 'Numbers Game' book ('coincidence is logical'). Perhaps you can access parts of it on 'google books'. The authors suggest, and I think rightly so, that he gained that insight/idea intuitively and through his senses/experience rather than exactly knowing the mathematics behind it.
Thanks for the tip (coincidence is logical). From glancing through the Laudrup film so far, I found it interesting that he talks about learning to dribble less so that it is more effective when he does (surely helped his passing game too but ofc his own vision/ideas and also the runners being in tune with him will have done that too yeah) and also says if he dribbled too much he would suffer many fouls and that it is not easy to score many solo goals from dribbling at senior level.
I'm not a fan of youtube compilations, but this is one of those who speak for themselves. Try to stop the video in the moment Laudrup is hitting his pass and guess who is going to receive it and how. If you guess right the majority of the time, you probably missed an extraordinary career as a soccer player. Sorry.
I don't think, despite being a fan, I've watched that in full yet but I agree it's a great video (the detail allows enough of various sorts of passes to get a more full impression even than the shorter ones which I did watch on Youtube - the longer one is there also in one video which is probably why I just referred to it as a singular item instead of 2 as per what's on Dailymotion!; the number of first time backheels shown for example showcases his ability with them very well on the long version and in general play too rather than only when creating a clear chance - almost Socrates esque maybe!). (This one used to have Manic Street Preachers - Autumn Song accompanying it and it added to the experience well I'd say so maybe worth opening two windows and playing it simultaneously with the sound muted on the Laudrup video!) This is maybe not a bad one to add to the thread too, regarding a European cup competition performance in the latter stages of the CL. But I'd say IIRC the Bilbao game below it is a better display from him at that stage of his career in Madrid (I guess you are very familiar with that phase SVilarino since I notice you have lots of knowledge from even the 70's and are also a Real Madrid fan): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O24-fK1tlOs
Oh my, how happy I was when I discovered Don Michael was coming to my team. His 94-95 season was glorious and that Real Madrid played beautiful soccer. That's one of the teams that played a genuine diamond as midfield formation. Obviously it helped to have the two perfect options at each end, with Redondo and Laudrup. 95-96 was a terrible season for the team, but Laudrup played well in the Champions League. Everybody was really excited about playing again the European Cup after 4 long years of Barcelona's domination.
This was also one that passed by on a blog. It is from during the 1986 World Cup. https://analogueboyinadigitalworld.wordpress.com
Thanks - cool to see the answers (if that is from Shoot maybe I even saw it before but it doesn't come to mind). A Juventus and Denmark star had a Fiat Uno in those days! I wonder if his dribbling in basketball was similarly good (it is completely different really though). Maybe he didn't see Chess as a sport! Heighway perhaps had some similarities in terms of playing style/qualities but I would think Cruyff would probably have been a bigger influence on him (even before becoming his manager) though probably lots of English football was shown in Scandanavia.