Bernd Schuster

In the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll to name the finest European players of the last five decades, Schuster finished 40th.

Bernd Schuster (born 22 December 1959) is a German former professional footballer of the late 1970s through early 1990s, who won club titles playing for the Spanish sides FC Barcelona (1980–1987) and Real Madrid (1988–1990).

He played as a midfielder and was nicknamed "der Blonde Engel" (the Blond Angel).

Schuster started his professional career with 1. FC Köln at age 18 in 1978 after a number of promising performances with the West German Under-18 National team.

Schuster left Köln after the 1980 European campaign to sign with Spain's FC Barcelona, where he flourished.

During his career, he played for clubs Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen.

Schuster was an important part of the FC Barcelona team during the 1980s, leading the game from midfield and scoring many goals.

His club president Josep Lluís Núñez and some trainers like Helenio Herrera, Udo Lattek, Terry Venables and Luis Aragonés had difficult relations with him.

He won, however, the European Silver Ball in 1980 and Bronze Ball in 1981 and 1985.

His style complemented the group of home-grown Madrid players known as la Quinta del Buitre who led the team to a dominance of the Spanish Championship through the 1980s.

Schuster was part of the West Germany national team that won the 1980 UEFA European Football Championship in Italy, appearing in two of West Germany's four matches.

His performances there helped him earn the Silver Ball Trophy honour as the Europe's second best player in 1980 behind Golden Ball winner, and West Germany team-mate Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

His refusal to take part in a match against Albania to be home for the birth of his second son David caused a sporting scandal at the time.

Schuster retired from the West German national team at the age of 24, due to his repeated disagreements with the German Football Association, then national team manager Jupp Derwall, and teammates including Paul Breitner.

According to Schuster, it was due to a major disagreement with the managements of both Barcelona and the West German national team on either side of a friendly match against Brazil.

Overall Schuster won 21 caps for the West German national team

At age 21, in 1981, he received a bad injury on his right knee by Athletic Bilbao defender Andoni Goikoetxea.

Schuster's move to Real Madrid was controversial due to the strong rivalry between Barcelona and Madrid.

Schuster signed with Atlético Madrid in autumn 1990 and helped improve the performance of Atletico's traditional games based on backpasses.

His long precise passes helped restore Atlético Madrid as a prominent club.

In 1993, Schuster returned home to Germany to play for three seasons with Bayer Leverkusen.

Despite his contributions, the club was unable to capture Bundesliga and German Cup titles but his performances inspired much of the country to push for a place for him in the 1994 World Cup squad.

In the national TV-Station ARD "Goal of the year" election Schuster won the first three places in 1994.

At his final team, the Mexican side Pumas de la UNAM he appeared in ten matches in spring 1997.

Schuster was the coach of Fortuna Köln between 1 July 1997 and 30 June 1998.

Schuster was coach of 1. FC Köln from 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999.

Schuster was unable to get the club promoted.

In 2000, he applied for the manager job at Scottish club Dundee FC, but the Dundee chairman rejected his application.

Schuster became coach of Xerez on 26 June 2001.

Schuster coached the team successfully for two seasons.

The second and third best seasons in the history of the club.

However, he could not get the club promoted to La Liga.

In June 2003, he accepted a deal to coach Shakhtar Donetsk starting on 1 July 2003.

Schuster established a club record number of consecutive victories.

However, the team did not win the championship and did not reach the final round of the Champions League with a match against Lokomotiv Moscow.

Schuster was sacked on 5 May 2004, one week before his team played and won the Ukrainian Cup final in 2004.

Schuster returned to Spain in summer 2004 to coach Levante.

Schuster was sacked on 1 May 2005.

The sacking came with a 5-point advantage over the relegation zone with five matches remaining.

After retiring as a player, he managed a number of European clubs, including Real Madrid, taking them to the league title in the 2007–08 season.