Brian Laudrup

He won the 1998 UEFA Super Cup in his brief stint with English club Chelsea, followed by a short spell with Copenhagen in Denmark, before ending his career with Ajax in 2000.

Halfway through the 1989 season, Laudrup's contract with Brøndby expired, and he agreed to join German club Bayer Uerdingen.

The transfer fee was thought to be around DKK 8 million, the partition of which Brøndby and Brian's father and agent Finn Laudrup disagreed about.

At kicker's biannual ranking of Bundesliga players, Laudrup was rated the league's second-best forward in the second highest category, international class, after Werder Bremen's New Zealander, Wynton Rufer.

Laudrup's reputation began to grow and he fulfilled his lifelong ambition when he moved to Serie A (at the time, arguably the top league in the world) to sign for Fiorentina.

The team as a whole produced mediocre performances, and despite the presence of such other stars as Stefan Effenberg and Gabriel Batistuta, the club was unexpectedly relegated after more than 50-straight years playing in Serie A.

However, Capello's defensive system proved to work at the end of the season, as Milan won the Scudetto only scoring 36 goals in 34 matches.

In the second half with only a few minutes remaining, he provided another assist with a long run from the half-way line before passing to Duncan Ferguson, who then scored Rangers' second goal to clinch a 2–1 win.

[28] He finished the season with 10 goals in 33 League games, in addition to a number of assists, as Rangers won their seventh consecutive Championship.

Laudrup missed a run of nine League games in the early part of season 1995–96 due to an injury sustained in international duty.

With Rangers hampered by a series of niggling injuries to their main strikers, a greater burden for goalscoring was placed on Laudrup.

Laudrup was linked with a £5 million move to Ajax Amsterdam in the summer of 1997, but was persuaded to stay with Rangers for one more season to help their bid for a tenth successive league title.

[25][32] Rangers finished runners-up in the league behind Celtic, and ended the season trophy-less after losing to Hearts in the 1998 Scottish Cup Final.

He did not play many matches due to a combination of injury, the squad rotation system that Chelsea had where no player was guaranteed to be in the starting line up, and also because of his fall-out with the club.

[23] Laudrup provided an assist in the 4–3 victory against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park after coming off the substitutes' bench to equalize 3–3.

Manager Gianluca Vialli had no hesitation about playing Laudrup against Copenhagen despite his unhappiness at the club, stating "I've always had faith in Brian.

[35] Although Laudrup's time at Chelsea was brief, his performances were praised, and he kept a professional attitude when called into action despite being personally unhappy in London.

"[44] Ajax head coach Jan Wouters, who spent a season with Laudrup at Bayern Munich, added, "I like Brian a lot because he can adapt and play several positions.

[45] He was called up for the senior Denmark national team by coach Sepp Piontek in April 1987 as a replacement for his brother Michael,[46] but did not receive his debut.

During the dispute with Brøndby over his transfer fee, it was discussed whether the Danish Football Union should ban Laudrup from the national team.

[11] Following three matches in the qualification campaign for the Euro 1992, Laudrup opted to quit the national team in November 1990 alongside his brother Michael and Jan Bartram, as he lacked respect for coach Nielsen.

Though he did not score a single goal in the competition, his skill and speed was an important part of the Danish team that went on to win the tournament, and Laudrup was voted a shared fifth in the 1992 FIFA World Player of the Year poll, with fellow Dane Peter Schmeichel, though he had the edge over Schmeichel in the domestic polls, where Laudrup won his second Danish Player of the Year award in 1992.

Laudrup scored 2 goals in 12 matches[45] as Denmark were edged out of participation at the 1994 World Cup by Spain and the Republic of Ireland.

He scored a remarkable individual goal in the 2–0 win over Saudi Arabia which saw him beat three defenders before slotting it into the net from a wide angle.

Laudrup was a highlight for the Danes scoring three goals in as many matches, including two against Turkey, but the team was eliminated in the preliminary group stage.

The quarter-final was the best ever Danish result at a World Cup, and Laudrup later ranked the 1998 Denmark team higher than the Euro 1992-winning side.

After the tournament, Laudrup decided to end his national team career, having played in 82 matches, scoring 21 goals over the course of 11 years.

[53][54][55] He used this talent, offensive capabilities and acceleration to dribble at speed and beat players with relative ease to create openings for teammates.

[25][54] Although he was a powerful and accurate striker of the ball, who was capable of finishing well and scoring with either foot as well as with his head, Laudrup was also known to be a very unselfish player with excellent vision who would often take more pleasure in setting-up teammates rather than going for goal himself.

[67] His former manager Horst Wohlers named him as the best player he had ever coached, and as the top footballer in the Bundesliga during their time together at Bayer Uerdingen.