3. Hugo Sanchez
The next name on this list is that of the legendary Mexican striker, Hugo Sanchez. He was signed by Real Madrid from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 1984, and his transfer had an interesting story behind it. Sanchez was all set to switch from Madrid club to another, but Atletico didn’t want to anger their fans by announcing the deal directly. So they announced that Hugo Sanchez had moved to his boyhood club UNAM, And after 15 days, Real Madrid signed Sanchez from UNAM. What followed was just brilliance, seven seasons of pure brilliance.
He had proven himself while playing for Real Madrid’s local rivals Atletico Madrid, but he took his career to the next level at Real Madrid. Despite the presence of great strikers like Butragueno and Santillana in the club, he became the starter of the club and lead the magnificent attack of real Madrid with the Quinta Del Buitre behind him. In the seven seasons he spent at the Bernabeu, he had scored 208 goals in 292 appearances for Real Madrid. And he won 5 LaLiga titles, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 Copa Del Rey, and 3 Spanish Supercopas.
He was a fantastic goalscorer, and he was mostly known for his acrobatic goals and acrobatic celebrations. He had trained very hard to maintain his athleticism, which enabled him to score a lot of beautiful goals in his career. He was known as the man of ‘bicycle kicks’, thanks to his ability to attempt such goals with ease.
He had the ability to take thunderous free-kicks, with a technique that was later used a lot by the likes of Roberto Carlos. Despite being a left-footed player naturally, he had the ability to finish well with both these feet. And he was a great header of the ball, though he wasn’t that tall. Overall, he was a complete goalscorer who was a perfect blend of athleticism and technicality.
He set many records back then while playing for Real Madrid. He won four Pichichi awards in four consecutive seasons, and he also had set the record for winning the highest number of Pichichi’s back then. And he actually has a special record to his name, which will be very difficult to break or practically impossible in modern-day LaLiga. In the 1989/90 season, he had scored 38 league goals (which itself was a record), and the specialty is that every goal was scored with his first touch. So far only player has this record in LaLiga, and it’s him. This shows how rare such a record is!