Michael Laudrup - Style of Play

Style of Play

A play-making midfielder, Laudrup was known as one of the most effective passers, as well as one of the most skillful and elegant players of the game and is still popular amongst fans. Laudrup was considered by many as one of the most technically accomplished players ever. He was ranked amongst the best players in Europe, and his talent was exceptional, with the French three time European footballer of the year award winner Michel Platini describing him as one of the most talented players ever, only lamenting his lack of selfishness causing him to score too few goals. His team mate in Real Madrid, Raúl has in an interview in April 2006 called Laudrup the best player he has ever played with. His team mate in Barcelona, Romário has stated the same and added that Laudrup in his opinion is the fifth best player in the history of the game as he was able to create and score goals almost at will (behind Pelé, Diego Maradona, himself and Zinedine Zidane). Laudrup was known as a gentleman on the pitch and never received a red card.

He was admired for his outstanding technique, elegance, deep passes and dribbling. Jorge Valdano, the Argentinian coach of Laudrup in Real Madrid, said "he has eyes everywhere". His trademark move — looking one way and passing the other — fooled countless opponents during his career. The Laudrup dribble was perhaps the best-known part of his game, as he quickly moved the ball from one foot to the other away from the defender. His outstanding skills were combined with an immense creativity. He always played the attack in the least obvious way, leaving the defense stranded. This has led to the expression "Made in Laudrup", widely used in Spain about his unique play. Numerous teammates of Laudrup have said: "Just run, he will always find a way of passing you the ball".

In Barcelona he played alongside Hristo Stoichkov, who scored many goals from Laudrup's passes, like Iván Zamorano (who called Laudrup el genio, the genius) during Laudrup's time at Real Madrid. Zamorano was going through a hard spell in Madrid, but when Laudrup arrived to assist his goals, Zamorano immediately became pichichi – top scorer of the Spanish league, La Liga. An impressive 82% of his goals from the 1994–95 season came from assists from Laudrup. Throughout his career his number of assists was impressive and almost always the highest of his team.

Michael Laudrup provided many examples of his skills with the Danish national team. However there were periods where he failed to deliver the performances he consistently delivered at club level, where he had world class players all around him for most of his career. With Denmark, he sometimes appeared frustrated when his passes were not utilized properly. In the last couple of years there was even a discussion about whether there was room for both of the Laudrups in the national team. Outstanding as they were and even with some difference in their playing styles, it was rare to see both of them playing a good game. In the end though, they both ended their careers with the national team on a high, with Michael captaining the side to the quarter finals at the 1998 World Cup, where they crashed out after a thrilling 3–2 encounter with then-reigning world champions and later final participants, Brazil.