Quinta del Buitre

La Quinta del Buitre is the moniker given by Spanish sport journalist Julio César Iglesias to the five homegrown Real Madrid players who were at the core of the team that dominated Spanish football in the 1980s. The name ("Vulture's Cohort") was derived from Emilio Butragueño's nickname El Buitre, the most charismatic and prominent player of the group. The other four members were Sanchis, Rafael Martín Vázquez, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza. All five players were graduates of Real Madrid's youth academy, La Fábrica.

The name originated from an El País article written by journalist Julio César Iglesias entitled "Amancio y la quinta del Buitre". Originally, the article's title was intended to be simply "La Quinta del Buitre", however Iglesias remembers that he decided to add Amancio's name after being advised by the paper's editors that writing a 90-line article about a group of kids, "mocosos", would be excessive. However, that group of young players brought new stamina to the team and they were representatives of the new dynamic that the entire Spanish society was experiencing in those late 1970s and early 1980s.

By the time the article was published, all five players were part of Real Madrid's reserves team, Castilla, and the article had a major impact in order to attract the attention towards these young players. At the end of the season, Castilla finished as champions of the 1983–84 Segunda División, but by then only Míchel was still not incorporated into Real Madrid first team, with the other four having been transferred immediately after the article was published. Sanchís and Martín Vázquez were the first to play for Real Madrid's first team, making their debut away at Murcia on 4 December 1983. Coach Alfredo Di Stéfano brought the youngsters in from the start. Both played surprisingly well and Sanchís even scored the winning goal. A few months later, on 5 February 1984, Emilio Butragueño made his debut in an away game at Cádiz. El Buitre was an instant sensation and scored twice. Pardeza was added to the first team that same season and Míchel followed at the start of the next.

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