Gheorghe Hagi is widely considered as the greatest football player in Romania and he enjoyed a very good club career in the colours of some big teams on the European football scene. Hagi played for both Real Madrid and Barcelona during an illustrious career.

Real Madrid signed Gheorghe Hagi after they were impressed with his performances at the 1990 FIFA World Cup tournament in Italy. He was at Steaua Bucharest in his native Romania before moving to Real Madrid. Spanish La Liga giants Real Madrid paid $3.5m to acquire his services from Steaua Bucharest. His signing was made official on June 27, 1990.

Hagi had a largely unsuccessful time at Real Madrid, but he was still able to score a lot of goals for the club. In one of his recent interviews, the Romanian football icon wished he had stayed at Real Madrid when he left the club after two seasons in 1992. Gheorghe Hagi spent two seasons at Real Madrid with an attacking return of 20 goals in 84 appearances. He won just the Spanish Super Cup during his time in Madrid.

One of his most memorable games for Real Madrid was on Matchday 22 of the 1991/92 La Ligaseason when he scored a hat-trick to lead home team Real Madrid to the 5-0 thumping of Athletic Bilbao. During the same campaign, Hagi also produced a 40-yard lob to find the back of the net in the league clash with Osasuna.

Gheorghe Hagi left Real Madrid to join Brescia in the Italian league in the summer of 1992. Brescia suffered relegation from the Italian Serie A in his first season at the club. He was more successful in his second season as helped Brescia win the Anglo-Italian Cup by beating Notts County of England 1-0 in the final in addition to helping the team finish third in Serie B to earn instant promotion to Serie A. Hagi returned to Spain to sign for Barcelona after his second season at Brescia.