5 Players who came back to haunt their former clubs

4. Michael Laudrup: REAL MADRID vs Barcelona

When Johann Cruyff assembled the Dream Team at Barcelona in the early 90s, and brought domestic and continental success careening down to Catalonia, there was one man who was at the heart of it all – the Danish magician Michael Laudrup. He weaved the magic around which Romario and Stoichkov did their thing and it was looking like la blaugrana were going to rule the footballing world for all eternity – their peak performance a 5-0 thrashing of Real Madrid at the Bernabeu where Laudrup ran the show

And then Laudrup fell out with the legendary Dutchman. The low point of their relationship coming when Cruyff dropped Laudrup against AC Milan in that famous Champions League final in Athens. it is important to know a bit of background here – regulations restricted the no. of foreigners any team could field to just three (in Europe) and Cruyff had elected to drop Laudrup, a decision that didn’t sit well with the great Dane.

Three days after Barca lost the final 4-0 to Milan, he packed his bags and took a flight to Madrid. On his return to the Nou Camp, he put on a masterclass that inspired Madrid to a 5-0 win.

Want more proof as to how important he was?

Barcelona were champions of Spain 93/94 (and the three years preceding when he was there). Real Madrid were crowned champions of Spain in 94/95, the year he joined them.