Alfredo Di Stéfano - 290.53 Performance Pts
Born: 04/07/1926 Buenos Aires, Argentina Died: 07/07/2014 Madrid, Spain
Position: Forward Height: 1.78m Weight: 80kg
The
European Cup Final of 1960, where Real Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in
front of over 127,000 fans at Hampden Park, is regarded as one of the greatest
matches of all-time. Madrid's football was sublime, with Di Stefano taking
centre stage, scoring a hat-trick. He was outdone on the scoring stakes by his
good friend Ferenc Puskas, who netted the other 4 Real goals as they won the
European Cup for the fifth time in a row. Di Stefano played in, and scored in,
all 5 final victories. He was a bona fide legend of the game, famed not just
for his trophy-laden career (8 La Liga titles with Real as well as the 5
European Cups) but for his legacy. A prolific scorer, with pace, creativity and
versatility, he's undoubtedly an all-time great. Having started out in
Argentina, he also played in Colombia before joining Real Madrid in 1953 after
a protracted transfer saga. Barcelona was keen to sign him, and for a while he
alternated between the two clubs before becoming a fully-fledged Real player.
Santiago Bernabeu was Madrid president at the time and played a key role in
negotiations. The run of success began almost immediately, with Real winning
the league title, their first for 20 years, in Di Stefano's first full season,
and they haven't looked back since. Di Stefano played international football
for 3 countries; Argentina (the country of his birth), Colombia (although they
weren't recognised by FIFA at this point) and Spain. He never played at a World
Cup finals, and is regarded, along with George Best, as the best player never
to have played at the tournament. He came close with Spain in 1962, but injury
prevented him making an appearance. He spent a couple of seasons with Espanol
at the end of his career, before going on to have a managerial career lasting
over 20 years; this inevitably included spells in charge of Real. He was the
losing manager when Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen beat Real Madrid to win the Cup
Winners' Cup in 1983. He was named Honorary President of Real Madrid in 2000,
and passed away in 2014, aged 88.
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