The hard player: Robbie Savage
Born on 18 October 1974 in Wrexham, Wales, Robbie Savage began his professional career at Manchester United, spending one season with the first team as a substitute without making a single appearance – missing out on the 1994 cup-and-league double as a result. He then moved to Crewe Alexandra, racking up 87 games and 10 goals, before settling at Leicester City for the longest spell of his career: 204 appearances and 10 goals with the Foxes.
Standing 1.85 m tall, this central midfielder went on to play for Birmingham City (88 games, 12 goals), Blackburn Rovers (100 games, 3 goals) and finally Derby County, his last club, where he played from 2008 to 2011 (137 games, 7 goals). A Welsh international, he earned 39 caps and scored 2 goals for Wales between 1995 and 2005. After retiring as a player, he moved into management.
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PlayThe medium player: Fernando Redondo
Born on 6 June 1969 in Adrogué, Argentina, Fernando Redondo learned his trade at Argentinos Juniors before heading to Spain after four seasons. He first settled at Tenerife (103 appearances, 8 goals) before moving on to Real Madrid, where he became one of the most elegant defensive midfielders the Bernabéu had ever seen. With Los Blancos, he won two Champions League titles and two La Liga crowns, and was named best player of the Champions League in 2000. In total, he made 228 appearances in white, scoring 5 goals.
On the international stage, Redondo won the 1993 Copa América with Argentina and played in the 1994 World Cup, before being gradually phased out of the squad, making only sporadic appearances until 1999 – 29 caps and 1 goal in total. In 2000, he left Madrid for AC Milan, but his knees had other plans: persistent injuries prevented him from showing his best in Italy (33 games, 0 goals), forcing him to retire in 2004. His son Federico Redondo has also gone on to become a professional footballer.
The easy player: Pep Guardiola
Born on 18 January 1971 in Santpedor, Josep Guardiola grew up through the ranks of FC Barcelona, learning to dominate games with intelligence rather than brute force. A natural defensive midfielder, he was part of Johan Cruyff’s iconic “Dream Team”, which lifted the club’s first European Cup in 1992 and claimed four consecutive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994. Club captain from 1997 until his departure in 2001, he earned 47 caps for Spain and won a gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. After leaving Catalonia, he played for Brescia and AS Roma in Italy, Al-Ahli in Qatar, and finally Dorados de Sinaloa in Mexico.
No sooner had he hung up his boots than he took charge of Barcelona’s reserve side, before stepping up to the first team in 2008. In his very first season, he won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League – becoming the youngest manager ever to win the competition. He then pulled off an unprecedented sextuple, and repeated his Champions League triumph in 2011. In four seasons on the Barcelona bench, he collected 14 trophies. After three Bundesliga titles at Bayern Munich, he moved to Manchester City in 2016, where in 2019 he became the first manager to win the English domestic treble.