Manuel Sanchís Hontiyuelo

Club career A product of Real Madrid's prolific youth system, Madrid-born Sanchís made his debut with the first team on 4 December 1983, scoring the only goal at Real Murcia CF and finishing his debut campaign with a further 17 appearances (and two goals) for the main squad.

Sanchís only appeared in less than 30 matches in two of the following 15 seasons, and was instrumental in the team's several conquests, including six La Liga championships, two UEFA Champions Leagues and two UEFA Cups. In 1999–2000 he featured sparingly, but still helped them to their eighth European Cup, playing 11 minutes in the final against fellow Spanish side Valencia CF in a 3–0 win.

Sanchís retired in 2001 at the age of 36, having played 710 official games for his only club – 523 of those in the league – while also captaining it for 13 years.

International career After excelling with the Spanish under-21s, with which he won the 1986 UEFA European Championship, Sanchís made his senior debut on 12 November of that year in a UEFA Euro 1988 qualifier against Romania (1–0 win). He went on to earn 48 full caps, appearing at both Euro 1988 and the 1990 FIFA World Cup. His last game, aged 27, was a 2–0 friendly defeat of the United States on 11 March 1992. An aggressive yet fair player, he was also noted for his leadership, tactical intelligence, reading of the game and positional sense in addition to his passing, and usually played as a sweeper.

Career statistics Club