The Vulture rips Denmark to shreds

These days, we associate Spain with tiki-taka, an attack-minded and free-flowing passing game. Before Johan Cruyff lay the foundations for that style during his time as Barcelona manager, the dominant playing style in Spain tended to be somewhat less exalted. In the mid-Eighties, merciless defending and unabashedly negative tactics were the order of the day for Spanish teams.

It hardly yielded the Spaniards a glut of trophies. Although clubs like Real Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona had been able to win the UEFA-Cup and the Cup Winners Cup, the biggest price in European club football had eluded them since 1966 and the national team hadn't been able to win a tournament since 1964. Things appeared to be looking up in 1984, when Spain made it to the final of the European Championship. But in that final they slumped to a 2-0 defeat against Platini's France.

Hughes and Rush beat Spain

Making it to the last four of the 2016 European Championship surely surpassed the wildest dreams of even the most optimistic of Wales fans and players. After all, for decades even qualifying for a major tournament had proved a pipe dream for generations of Welsh internationals. For all the European trophies players like Mike England, John Toshack and Ryan Giggs won with their clubs, they never played a World Cup or European Championship with their country.

Neither did Ian Rush and and Mark Hughes, even though they formed an impressive front two in the mid eighties that would have easily walked into the line up of much bigger countries. The pair complimented each other perfectly: Hughes was a powerful target man who fought for every ball, while Rush was a clinical finisher.