his move to Italian football. During the tournament, Denmark played attractive attacking football, but went out at the semi-final stage, losing to Spain on penalties. Elkjær missed Denmark's last penalty kick attempt, sending the ball high over the goal. Elkjær also represented Denmark at the 1986 FIFA World Cup as Denmark had qualified for that competition for the first time, eventually progressing from the group stage as winners, only to be once again knocked out by Spain. During the tournament, he scored four goals, including a hat-trick against Uruguay, being named the most dynamic and powerful striker of the tournament, and winning the Bronze Ball award as the third best player. Euro 1988 was Elkjær's last tournament participation for him. On 14 June 1988, he played the last game for his country, aged 30 years and 277 days, as Denmark lost 2–0 to West Germany, finishing with three group stage defeats. In total, he played 69 international games, and scored 38 goals. Style of play Elkjær is regarded as one of Denmark's all-time greatest forwards. A notorious smoker, his playing style was however not short of breath, being dominated by a rock-like determination. He never seemed to give up on a lost ball – from time to time resulting in a goal. His style was an unorthodox combination of physical confrontations and great dribbling abilities. Described as "powerful and dynamic", Elkjær could hardly be stopped when going on his own, one of his trademarks. His aggression was matched by few, and whenever he would receive the ball with his back to the goal he would immediately turn with the ball and attempt to head for goal. Elkjær's aggressive style of play was well combined with the calmness and vision of the younger Michael Laudrup when they played side by side on the national team, and they were named the "most effective" attacking duo of the 1986 World Cup. At Hellas Verona, Preben Elkjær was one of the few players in the Serie A that didn't have a specific role. Other than being expected to score goals, he was mostly given a carte blanche by coach Osvaldo Bagnoli. Personal life Elkjær authored his own biography, "Guldkjær". He was nicknamed both "Guldkjær" and "Målkjær", Danish for, respectively, "Goldkjær" and "Goalkjær". In the book, he mostly recalls his stay in Italy with Hellas Verona. Elkjær had several cars. One of them was a