The vulture of Castile: Who is Emilio Butragueño?

Here is the story of Emilio Butragueno, who left his mark on Spanish and European football and is the leader of the group called "Vulture Five"...

Born in Madrid, Butragueño started football at Real; He spent most of his career here. Young Emilio, who achieved many successes with the Madrid team, formed the formidable duo at Real's forward end with another famous football player, Mexican Hugo Sanchez.

Butragueño scored his first goal in an international matches in Spain's match against Scotland in October 1984. Just a month later, Spain won the silver medal in the European Football Championship.

Emilio Butragueño Santos (born 22 July 1963) is a Spanish retired professional 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 along with Manolo Sanchís, Rafael Martín Vázquez, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza.

Striker Butragueño had now taken his place among the indispensable players of the national team. When they went to Mexico in 1986, the Spanish were expecting success from their team. Spain, which hosted the previous championship, could not even reach the semi-finals in those finals, they finished last in the group with 1 point they collected in the 2 matches they played in the 2nd round, 2nd group, and lost the semi-final chance to West Germany.

Having a striker like Butragueño, the Spaniards advanced to the 2nd round after Brazil in Group D. Matched with Denmark in the second round, the Spanish bulls would, in a sense, play a rematch of the 1984 European Football Championship semi-final match. Butragueño scored 4 goals for Spain, which beat Denmark 5-1. 

With these goals, Butragueño shared the title of the player who scored the most goals in a match, held by Eusebio in 1966. 

In the quarter-final match, which ended 1-1, the Spanish were eliminated by losing 5-4 to Belgium after the penalty shoot-out and their World Cup championship dreams were also dashed.

Emilio could not show his true class in the World Cup 4 years later. The team of the star football player, who scored only 1 goal in 4 matches, still managed to advance to the 2nd round. 

While Spain bid farewell to the championship with a 2-1 defeat against Yugoslavia, "Vulture" also played in a World Cup for the last time.

Emilio Butragueño, who won the league championship 5 times with Real Madrid in the second half of the 1980s, said goodbye to his club Real in 1995 and decided to continue his career in Mexico; He ended his active football life 2 years later.