SPANISH DEFENDER GOIKOETXEA NAMED "TOUGHEST DEFENDER IN FOOTBALL HISTORY"

German magazine "11 Freunde" has given its list of  "The Toughest Defenders in Football History" with Spanish International & Athletic Club Bilbao defender Andoni Goikoetxea taking the Nº 1 position. The only modern - contemporary - player in the list is Real Madrid defender Pepe with the Nº 6 spot & lastly Spanish International & Real Madrid defender José Camacho is given the N º 14 position.

Andoni Goikoetxea won his "fame" with two famous tackles that nearly ended the careers of Diego Armando Maradona & Bernd Schuster. From the former he won - perhaps harshly - the nickname of  "The Butcher of Bilbao" which has hang over his head & image ever since. Here is the infamous video & tackle on Maradona:



Real Madrid defender Pepe has won his fame with the "freak-out" tackle & "head-kicking" of Getafe player Casquero & rest of Getafe players. Here is the video of that impacting incident:



There are other well known names on the list of the "Toughest Defenders" that also earned their reputation & not with "sweet talk".

Here is the full list of player as given by "11 Freunde":

1. Andoni Goikoetxea (Atletic Club Bilbao)
2. Claudio Gentile. 
3. Uli Borowka. 
4. Vinnie Jones. 
5. Nobby Stiles. 
6. Pepe.(Real Madrid CF)
7. Graeme Souness. 
8. Roy Keane. 
9. Norman Hunter. 
10. Helmut Rahner. 

... 14. Camacho (Real Madrid CF).