![Emilio Butragueño 2015 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Emilio_Butrague%C3%B1o_2015_%28cropped%29.jpg)
is the moniker given by Spanish sport journalist Julio César Iglesias to the five homegrown
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
players who were at the core of the team that dominated
Spanish football
Football is the most popular sport in Spain. Spain has some of the most important teams in Europe (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Seville, Valencia, and others). It also has a high number of players (most of them being unprofession ...
in the 1980s. The name ("Vulture's Cohort") was derived from
Emilio Butragueño
Emilio Butragueño Santos (; born 22 July 1963) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a striker.
He was best known for his spell with Real Madrid. Nicknamed ''El Buitre'' (The Vulture), he was a member of the ''La Quinta del Buitre'' a ...
's nickname ', the most charismatic and prominent player of the group. The other four members were
Sanchís,
Rafael Martín Vázquez
Rafael Martín Vázquez (born 25 September 1965) is a Spanish former professional Association football, footballer who played mostly as an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder.
He represented most notably Real Madrid CF, Real ...
,
Míchel and
Miguel Pardeza
Miguel Pardeza Pichardo (born 8 February 1965) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a forward.
He was part of Real Madrid's generation of footballers known as ''La Quinta del Buitre'', but spent the better part of his care ...
. All five players were graduates of Real Madrid's youth academy,
La Fábrica.
Origin
The name originated from an ''
El País
''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...
'' article written by journalist Julio César Iglesias entitled "
Amancio y la quinta del Buitre". Originally, the article's title was intended to be simply "La Quinta del Buitre", however Iglesias remembers that he decided to add Amancio's name after being advised by the paper's editors that writing a 90-line article about a group of kids, "'", would be excessive. However, that group of young players brought new stamina to the team and they were representatives of the new dynamic that the entire Spanish society was experiencing in those late 1970s and early 1980s.
By the time the article was published, all five players were part of Real Madrid's reserves team,
Castilla
Castile, Castille or Castilla may refer to:
Places Spain
*Castile (historical region), a vaguely defined historical region of Spain covering most of Castile and León, all of the Community of Madrid and most of Castilla–La Mancha
*Kingdom of ...
, and the article had a major impact in order to attract the attention towards these young players. At the end of the season, Castilla finished as champions of the
1983–84 Segunda División
The 1983–84 Segunda División season saw 20 teams participate in the second flight Spanish league. Hércules CF, Racing de Santander and Elche CF were promoted to La Liga, Primera División. Linares CF, Algeciras CF, Palencia CF (I), Palencia C ...
, but by then only Míchel was still not incorporated into Real Madrid first team, with the other four having been transferred immediately after the article was published.
Sanchís and Martín Vázquez were the first to play for Real Madrid's first team, making their debut away at
Murcia
Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...
on 4 December 1983. Coach
Alfredo Di Stéfano
Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name.
People with the given name include:
*Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Filho ...
brought the youngsters in from the start. Both played surprisingly well and Sanchís even scored the winning goal. A few months later, on 5 February 1984, Emilio Butragueño made his debut in an away game at
Cádiz
Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
. ''El Buitre'' was an instant sensation and scored twice. Pardeza was added to the first team
that same season and Míchel followed at the start of the
next
Next may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare
* ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage
* '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film
Lit ...
.
Achievements
With La ''Quinta del Buitre'' at its core (reduced to four members when Pardeza left the club for
Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
in 1986) Real Madrid had one of the best teams in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and Europe during the second half of the 1980s, winning amongst others two
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
s and five
Spanish championships in a row. Their record was only blemished by their failure to win the
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
.
All the five players were part of Spain's squad during
1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...
. In the last minutes of the game against Belgium, la "Quinta" was reunited on the pitch after the entry of Miguel Pardeza for
Julio Salinas
Julio Salinas Fernández (; born 11 September 1962) is a Spanish former footballer who played during the 1980s and 1990s.
A tall, lanky centre forward with skills, he was best remembered for his spell at Barcelona – having started his career ...
. It was the only time during World Cup Finals.
Martín Vázquez went to play for
Torino
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...
in 1990. He made a return to Real Madrid in 1992, leaving the club again for good in 1995 (to
Deportivo de La Coruña
Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...
). Butragueño left the club in 1995 and Míchel in 1996. Both went to play for
Club Celaya
Club Celaya is a Mexican professional football club based in Celaya, Guanajuato. Celaya currently plays in the Liga de Expansión MX. Initially formed on Sunday 7 February 1954, the team was reorganized in Winter 2003 after their city neighbour ...
in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
.
Sanchís was the only member of ''La Quinta'' to never play for a club other than Real Madrid. By winning the Champions League twice (in 1998 and 2000), he also managed to accomplish what ''La Quinta'' had failed to achieve in its glory days.
He retired in 2001 as the last active member of the famous cohort. In 1998, Sanchís was even awarded the
Champions League trophy first, because he was by then the captain of Real Madrid and had played the whole
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
against
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...
.
With the years, "''Quinta Del Buitre''" has earned a more generic meaning, being also associated with a brand of football played by Real Madrid in the late 1980s and early 1990s, under the stewardship of coaches
Luis Molowny
Luis Molowny Arbelo (12 May 1925 – 12 February 2010) was a Spanish football midfielder and coach.
He amassed La Liga totals of 175 matches and 90 goals during 12 seasons, with Real Madrid and Las Palmas. He went on to work as a manager with th ...
,
Leo Beenhakker
Leo Beenhakker CM (; born 2 August 1942) is a Dutch international football coach. He has had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level. He led both Ajax and Feyenoord to Dutch championships and also had domestic s ...
and
John Toshack
John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a Welsh former professional football player and manager.
He began his playing career as a teenager with his hometown club Cardiff City, becoming the youngest player to make an appearance for th ...
. During those years, the Madrid club became synonymous with a high-tempo and very skilled, aggressive, style of play. The heated atmosphere then prevailing at the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium
The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ( es, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, ) is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947. It is the second-larg ...
sometimes pushed the players to go beyond the limits of acceptable behaviour. Real Madrid was during this period a reckless attacking machine, playing without a holding midfielder very often.
Comparisons to ''Galácticos''
''La Quinta del Buitre'' has been contrasted with the era of the early-to-mid 2000s. This latter period saw Real Madrid adopt a fluid and attacking approach to its football under coach
Vicente del Bosque
Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquess of Del Bosque (; born 23 December 1950) is a Spanish retired football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and is to date the only football manager to ha ...
. Unlike the ''Quinta del Buitre'' years, which favoured homegrown talent, Del Bosque's side was based mainly on expensive foreign imports such as
Luís Figo
Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo (; born 4 November 1972) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a winger for Sporting CP, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. He won 127 caps for the Portugal national team, a one-ti ...
,
Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the most ...
and
Ronaldo
Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People
Notable people known as Ronaldo include:
As ...
. In the meantime, the profile of the supporters attending games at the Santiago Bernabéu had also changed, an ''embourgeoisement'' process meant that the support was no longer as vocal and passionate as in the 1980s. A notorious banner deployed in the stands during that period read "'", indicating some kind of nostalgia for the fighting spirit and aggressiveness displayed by the ''Quinta del Buitre''.
The ''Galácticos'' were less dominant domestically than their predecessors, winning only two Ligas titles, in
2000–01 and
2002–03. Nevertheless, unlike the ''Quinta del Buitre'', they managed to extend their dominance to Europe, winning three Champions League trophies between 1997 and 2002. It is worth noting that two of these continental titles were won prior to the marquee arrival of Figo, and are therefore not a part of the ''per se'' ''Galácticos'' period.
In a country where football has the dimension of a national passion, the ''Quinta del Buitre'' was the engine behind the transformation of Spanish football into a more technically developed attacking style of play and, along with
Cruyff's ''Dream Team'', the two dominated a decade of Spanish football.
Recognition and reception
The Governing Council of Community of Madrid City awarded the group of footballers with ''2021 International Sports Award'' for their contribution in Spanish and European Football in 2022.
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
president
Ferran Soriano
Ferran Soriano i Compte (born 16 June 1967 in Barcelona) is a Spanish businessman who is the chief executive officer of the Premier League club Manchester City F.C. He also operates in the same role for Major League Soccer's New York City F.C., ...
, commenting on the supposed "luck" surrounding Real Madrid's
2022 Champions League victory, said: "People don't remember that in the 80s and 90s
ealhad a fantastic team, one of the best in history, with
milioButragueno and La Quinta, and they could not win [the
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
]. A.C. Milan, Milan eliminated them every year. So they were somewhat lucky now, but they were also very unlucky for years."
Notes
:1.Translated from Spanish:
All agreed to point out the elimination of Eindhoven as the worst moment ever.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinta del Buitre, La
Real Madrid CF
Nicknamed groups of association football players