Alferdo di Stefano: A year in his memory

Alferdo di Stefano: A year in his memory

One year ago today, the greatest player in the history of Spanish football left us for the heavens. Today we at "The Football Mind" take a look at his successful career with Real Madrid as we role back years in his memory.

Playing as a center-forward in one of the most successful club sides ever in the history of football, Di Stefano and Real Madrid won five European Cups in a row, starting with the inaugural tournament in 1956. A forward of versatility and authority: his greatness lay not only in his prolific goalscoring, but in his ability to influence play in all areas of the pitch.

Di Stéfano was born in Buenos Aires, the grandson of immigrants from Capri and son of Alfredo Sr, also a footballer who had played for the Buenos Aires club River Plate, and his wife Eulalia, who was of French and Irish origin. He grew up and learned to play football in the streets of the working-class suburb of Barracas and later, after his father had retired from the game, on a farm on the edge of the city.

His move to Spain was one of the most acrimonious and bizarre transfer deals in football history. Real wanted him and agreed a fee with Millonarios, but so did their bitter rivals Barcelona, who tried to outflank Madrid by agreeing a transfer with his former club River Plate, who still held Di Stéfano's official registration, claiming his move to Colombia had been illegal.

He eventually signed for Barcelona but the Spanish football federation failed to recognise the transfer and, in a Solomonic judgment, decreed that the two clubs share him and he play alternate seasons for each. Crucially, however – and the Catalan club claimed, with Francoist backing – the federation gave Real first bite. When Di Stéfano started his first season slowly, Barcelona were persuaded to sell their rights to the player – a decision they would regret.

Four days later he scored a hat-trick against Barcelona, and that was just the start. In just 30 games that 1953-54 season he scored 27 goals, leading Real to the Spanish championship for the first time in 21 years and sparking an unprecedented era of domestic and European domination. In 11 seasons at Real he won eight Spanish titles (he scored 218 goals in 282 games and was the league's top scorer in four seasons straight); five consecutive European Cups (scoring in all five finals); the inaugural Intercontinental Cup in 1960, played between the European and South American champions; and was named European Footballer of the Year in 1957 and 1959.

Alfredo di Stefano At International Level:

He was still eligible to play for Argentina, their football federation withdrew from the 1950 and 1954 World Cups. In 1949, at Millonarios, he played four games for Coloumbia, though they were not recognised by Fifa. He took Spanish nationality in 1956, but his adopted country failed to qualify for the 1958 World Cup, and after helping them reach the finals in Chile four years later, at the age of 35, he was injured and did not play in the tournament, or again for Spain.

In The Memory:

Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Lauhlé, football player and manager, born 4 July 1926; died 7 July 2014.

May his soul Rest In Peace.