Michael Laudrup is the former Danish footballer who is known for having represented the likes of Juventus, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Ajax. He has also managed a few teams during the last decade, with the most prominent being Getafe and Spartak Moscow. He is thought to be one of the greatest Dutch players of his generation. He has also represented the Danish national team in just over 100 appearances over a span of 16 years.
Even though he made more than 100 appearances for Juventus, it is with Barcelona that Laudrup has enjoyed the most success. He started his career with the youth academy at Brøndby after having moved from Vanløse. However, he spent only three seasons with Brøndby before moving to KB, for whom he made his professional debut in 1981. His first major move came in 1983 when he signed for Italian club Juventus. He made 29 appearances in all competitions for Juventus in the 1985-86 season. He went on to make more than 100 appearances for Juventus before Barcelona FC came calling for him in 1989.
Michael Laudrup teamed up with the Dutch coach Johan Cruyff to become one of the legends of the club. He played alongside other great legends like Ronald Koeman and Hristo Stoichkov. He soon became part of the Johan Cruijff dream team. The team was one of the most successful in the history of Barcelona having won the la Liga title four times in a row. He also won the European cup with Barcelona amongst many other titles. However, he created extreme dissatisfaction amongst the Barcelona supporters by moving to archrivals Real Madrid in 1994.
He managed to win the la Liga title with Real Madrid.
After spending two seasons with Real Madrid, his next major move was to Dutch club Ajax in 1997. He spent only one season with the club before retiring at the end of the season. Internationally, Michael Laudrup won the FIFA Confederations Cup with Denmark as a player. He was also awarded the Danish Player of the Year title twice.
He returned to football in 2000 as the assistant manager for the Danish national team. He spent two seasons with the national team before signing for Brøndby in 2002. Till now, it has been his most successful managerial career, with eight different titles. They included the likes of Danish Superliga, Danish Cup, and the Danish Super Cup.
He left the club in 2006 by mutual content after he could not agree upon a new contract. He decided to sign for Spanish club Getafe in the summer of 2006. Even though his Getafe managerial career was not as successful as the Brøndby job, it was extremely important considering the situation that Getafe. He led Getafe to the final of the Copa del rey in the 2007-08 season.
Despite this successful season, Michael Laudrup could not replicate the achievements the following season. Since then, he has had short spells at Spartak Moscow, with the Mallorca being his last.