What is Real Madrid? -- I think it's a feeling
Alfredo Di Stéfano
People talk about the best being Pele or Diego Maradona, but for me the best player ever was Alfredo Di Stéfano.
-- PeleI have written three drafts so far and I didn't feel any of them really showed honour to this legendary being. I hope this one will do the trick – let’s get right into it then!

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol released a statement this morning announcing the sad news of Alfredo’s passing. Another Real Madrid legend has passed and it has left a huge hole in the Los Blancos history that will take a miracle to fill. And that’s exactly what the blond arrow was, a miracle.

Nowadays we are quick to label players the greatest or give them the “legend” status when they got really deserve it. Once in a lifetime, we come across someone who really deserves all these accolades – Di Stéfano is exactly that. I there was NHL Hall of Fame for football, Di Stéfano would definitely be there.


La Saeta Rubia who grew up in Buenos Aires was but an average lad who had nothing but love for the game. Di Stéfano played for a number of clubs before joining Real Madrid, including an awe-inspiring River Plate side and an even more incredible Millonarios Fútbol Club of Bogotá in 1950.

But it was at Real Madrid where he will prove to the world just what a class act he was. He became he godfather of Real Madrid and many of the Madridistas hailed him as if he was a God. His mesmerizing touch and desire to be on the ball all the time made the crowds notice just how passionate he was. They all knew they were witnessing history in the making. He could kick with either foot and his will to be on the ball all the time showed that he play any position on the pitch. He had great athleticism and he could run for hours on end. He also tracked back to defend and scored goals – and boy did he score goals! 216 goals in 282 games for Real Madrid and his record of 49 goals in 58 European Cup games stood as a record for decades until it was broken by Raúl, Andriy Shevchenko and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
When you speak of the great history of Real Madrid, you are likely to speak of the glory years of 1955 – 1960 when they won the 5 European championships (now known as UEFA Champions League) five times in a row and guess who was at the heart of all these triumphs, Di Stéfano of course. He scored in each final but it was the historical 7-3 win over Eintrach Frankfurt that set the world ablaze when he scored a hat trick in the final.The Scandalous TransferThere are still some Barca fans out there who still ponder on the what ifs and could haves because Di Stéfano was so close to signing for the Catalan giants. In 1949 Argentina would suffer through a football strike, so to continue playing he had to make the switch to Columbian side Millonarios of Bogotá. In the first 12 years of his career he would win six league titles, and score 100 goals in 102-plus appearances. The full details of this transfer are full of twists and turns, backstabbing and so much misunderstanding between FIFA and the Spanish FA. At one point, they Spanish FA decided that Di Stéfano would stay in Spain for four years but on the condition that he would play for Real Madrid for two years – and then Barcelona for the other two. Barcelona didn't agree to this and in the end Santiago Bernabeu ended up convincing Di Stéfano to play for Madrid.Puskas & Di StefanoThe greatest strike duo Madrid ever had in their arsenal and maybe the greatest duo of all time. When Ferenc Puskás joined the club, he and Di Stéfano formed arguably the greatest 1-2 punch the world has ever seen on a football pitch. Puskás was the target man, scoring at will and Di Stéfano being able to play at any position on the pitch (legendary manager Miguel Muñoz stated that with Di Stéfano you could have the best player at multiple positions all rolled up in one footballer), Real Madrid waltzed through opposing defences like a hot knife through butter.
The most striking example of this is the performance which is widely considered to be the single finest performance ever put on by any club: the 7-3 victory over Eintrach Frankfurt in which Di Stéfano scored three and Puskás scored four. To this day, there hasn’t been a performance quite like it – Puskas & Di Stefano were a match made in heaven and they took Real Madrid’s legacy under their wings. The spirit of Di Stéfano is reflected in La Décima Although the news of his passing is incredibly sad, we can take one small silver lining in his last few months. The man was able to witness the club lift the trophy which had eluded them for years, the holy grail which he five times made his own: La Decima. We can at least be grateful for that moment.

So, having said all that, I ask...

How Can I Explain what Real Madrid is if you don’t know who Alfredo Di Stefano is?

How can I explain gratitude if you have never had the opportunity to honour a legend from your team’s history?

How can I explain *La Decima* if you don’t know what La Saeta Rubia really means.


How can I explain life if you don’t know Real Madrid?
Rest In Peace Alfredo Don Di Stéfano