From the 'next Laudrup' to Panama boss: Christiansen's journey to the World Cup

Christiansen will reach the high moment of his coaching career when Panama take on Ghana at the BMO Field in Toronto in the early hours of Thursday morning. He can look back on an active career that, from the beginning, seemed destined to become so much more than it turned out to be within the ranks of mighty FC Barcelona.

At the start of the 90’s, Christiansen was hyped as the next 'Michael Laudrup' in the Danish and Spanish media. Christiansen openly stated his dream was to learn from and play alongside the Danish legend, who was then the orchestrator of Barcelona's famous 'Dream Team', and a possible fairytale seemed in the making when Johan Cruyff personally signed the 18-year-old Christiansen from Danish club B.93.

Since clubs at the time had a strict quota for how many non-European players (foreigners) they could have in the squad, he was registered as a Spanish citizen, as he had a Spanish mother and a Danish father. 

Despite enjoying a promising start, breaking through at a Barcelona team that won the UEFA Champions League in 1992 proved to be an almost impossible challenge for the talented youngster, who soon found himself down the pecking order in competition for a place in the starting lineup against global superstars like Hristo Stoichkov, Ronald Koeman, Romario, and Laudrup himself. 

"Football players don't say no to joining FC Barcelona, and it was an amazing adventure for me to move down there. It was a great experience to be at the club, and when you think about the players I competed against, it's not surprising that I wasn't on the team. Laudrup, Koeman, Guardiola, Beguiristain, Bakero, Koeman, Stoichkov. You almost had to be from another planet to knock them off the team," said Christiansen to Viaplay. 

While the media desperately wanted him to be the next great Danish-Spanish playmaker, a number of factors couldn't fulfil that foresight. While Laudrup was an elegant playmaker with almost unrivalled vision and technical skills, Christiansen, on the other hand, was a fundamentally clinical finisher rather than a creative maestro in midfield. 

However, despite his problems at Barcelona, Spanish national team coach Javier Clemente surprisingly selected the then 19-year-old Danish-born forward due to his prolific goal-scoring form in the Spanish second division and his desire to secure his international allegiance after Christiansen scored for Spain's U-21 team against Germany in December 1992.

Consequently, Christiansen made history in January 1993 by becoming the first player ever to debut for the senior Spanish national team while still playing for a club’s reserve squad (FC Barcelona B).

He earned two caps for the senior team, making his debut and showcasing his talent in a World Cup qualification campaign where he even scored against Lithuania in February 1993.

"I definitely felt most Danish at the time, but it was about my future as a footballer. By moving to Barcelona, I suddenly had great opportunities to play international football with the best players. As far as the Danish national team is concerned, I don't think I missed out on anything. They had never called me up to any national team at youth level, and I don't think they would have done so later either", said Christiansen to Tipsbladet in 2013.

"Who wouldn't want to play for Spain. Playing for the Spanish national team was something fantastic. I had played well in my debut against Mexico and was then in the squad against Lithuania. I remember very well when the crowd shouted "Torero" at me. It was a huge experience."

Despite enjoying his debut in the Spanish national team, Christiansen's challenges of becoming a regular starter persisted at Barcelona, and when he seemed on the cusp of being handed a chance to shine by Cruyff, he suffered a series of devastating injuries, including a fractured shin, which completely halted his momentum at the most critical point of his development.

The consequence was that Christiansen was involuntarily forced into a series of unsuccessful loan spells at smaller Spanish clubs such as Sporting Gijon, Osasuna, and Racing Santander. 

Despite never turning into the next Laudrup, Christiansen did prove his qualities later in his career. In the 2002/03 season, playing for VfL Bochum, he became the Bundesliga joint-top goalscorer with 21 goals, proving he was a top-tier striker when he was fit. 

While he did not manage to make his breakthrough as a player at Barcelona, he carried Cruyff's tactical philosophy with him as coach of Panama.

“We want to dominate and control matches and take the game where we want it. It’s difficult because individually we aren’t better than a lot of teams. But collectively, if each player understands their role and their importance and responsibilities to the team, we can compete," Christiansen said to The Athletic.

The result of Christiansen's dedicated work may be witnessed early Thursday morning as Panama takes on Ghana in their first match at the World Cup.