July 8 – Tributes are pouring in for Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano, who died on Monday after suffering a heart attack at the weekend 24 hours after his 88th birthday.
Regarded by many as the greatest player of all time – even greater than Pele – Di Stefano won five straight European Cups for Real Madrid, scoring in each final between 1956 and 1960, and was twice named European player of the year.
In a career spanning five clubs in three countries – Argentina, Colombia and Spain – he scored a remarkable 789 goals in 1,090 matches.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said he was “my favorite player” while UEFA boss Michel Platini said he was “superb technically, possessed outstanding speed, and was a splendid goal scorer. Together with his gifted teammates, he helped invent modern football. He embodied all that is magical about football.”
In his first season in Madrid, Real won the title to end a 21-year drought and within three years, he had helped them lift the inaugural European Cup by scoring in a 4-3 win over France’s Stade Reims. Di Stefano’s last final in 1960 saw possibly his finest hour. Before 127,000 spectators at Glasgow’s Hampden Park, he scored three times in Madrid’s 7-3 demolition of Eintracht Frankfurt.
Even though he played at international level for three nations, World Cup glory sadly eluded him but he won eight Spanish league titles in all and in 2000 Real appointed him as honorary president and eight years later erected a statue in his honour.
Even at 86, di Stefano still maintained a regular column in the Spanish sports newspaper Marca. His modesty won him global admiration. “I think he was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, football player ever,” said Sir Bobby Charlton who played against him for Manchester United.
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