Alfredo Di Stéfano

Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé 4 July 1926 7 July 2014 was an Argentineborn professional footballer and coach regarded as one of the best footballers of all time Nicknamed Saeta rubia Blond Arrow he was a powerful quick skillful and prolific forward with great stamina tactical versatility creativity and vision who could play almost anywhere on the pitch He is best known for his achievements with Real Madrid where he was instrumental in the clubs domination of the European Cup and La Liga during the 1950s Along with Francisco Gento and José María Zárraga he was one of only three players to play a part in all five victories scoring goals in each of the five finals Di Stéfano played international football mostly for Spain after moving to Madrid but he also played for Argentina and Colombia Di Stéfano began his career at Argentinas River Plate aged 17 in 1943 For the 1946 season he was loaned to Club Atlético Huracán but he returned to River in 1947 Due to a footballers strike in Argentina in 1949 Di Stéfano went to play for Millonarios of Bogotá in the Colombian league He won six league titles during the first 12 years of his career in Argentina and Colombia Following his signing by Real Madrid he was an integral part of one of the most successful teams of all time He scored 216 league goals in 282 games for Real then a club record striking up a successful partnership with Ferenc Puskás Di Stéfanos 49 goals in 58 matches was the alltime highest tally in the European Cup The record has since been surpassed by several players with Real Madrids Raúl the first in 2005 Di Stéfano scored in five consecutive European Cup finals for Real Madrid between 1956 and 1960 including a hattrick in the last Perhaps the highlight of his time with the club was their 73 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1960 European Cup Final at Hampden Park a game many consider to be the finest exhibition of club football ever witnessed in Europe He moved to Espanyol in 1964 and played there until retiring at the age of 40 Di Stéfano was awarded the Ballon dOr for the European Footballer of the Year in 1957 and 1959 He is currently the sixth highest scorer in the history of Spains top division and Real Madrids third highest league goalscorer of all time He is Madrids leading goalscorer in the history of El Clásico alongside Cristiano Ronaldo In November 2003 to celebrate UEFAs Jubilee he was selected as the Golden Player of Spain by the Royal Spanish Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years He was voted fourth behind Pelé Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff in a vote organized by France Football magazine which consulted their former Ballon dOr winners to elect the Football Player of the Century In 2004 he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the worlds greatest living players In 2008 Di Stéfano was honoured by both UEFA and Real Madrid with a special Presidents award issued by FIFA at a ceremony in Madrid where a statue was also unveiled Then UEFA President Michel Platini called Di Stéfano a great amongst the greats while contemporaries Eusébio and Just Fontaine suggested that he was the most complete footballer in the history of the game From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia