To the fans of alternative football in the 80s, the Denmark team of Euro 1984 and World Cup 1986 are still regarded as the connoisseur's choice. With their iconic hummel kit and players with the talent of Michael Laudrup and Preben Elkjaer, they were among the favourites to go far in both competitions and in the first they lost narrowly to France before eventually following them through the groups. They lost, however, to Spain in the semi-finals on penalties in a match they should have won. In 1986 they finished top of a group that contained eventual finalists West Germany with three wins out of three, but were destroyed by Emilio Butragueno of Spain in the second round, the Real Madrid forward scoring four times in a 5-1 defeat. After failure to qualify for Euro 88, World Cup 1990 and Euro 1992, a generation looked to have missed their chance, but after civil war in Yugoslavia led to their withdrawl, Denmark were given a reprieve for Euro 92, a chance they duly accepted. A team contained Peter Schmeichel, John Jensen and Brian Laudrup defeated the fancied Netherlands and Germany to complete a memorable fairytale. Current star Christian Eriksen is hoping to inspire a new generation of Danes.