1958 brought yet more success as Real Madrid won a third European Cup (yet again, Di Stefano scored in the final), and a second consecutive La Liga title. It also saw the arrival of the man who would complete perhaps the greatest attacking line of all time—Ferenc Puskas.
Real Madrid now had Alfredo Di Stefano, Raymond Kopa, Ferenc Puskas, and Francisco Gento as their fantastic front four. They seemed unstoppable. In Europe, they were.
1959 brought an unbelievable fourth European Cup in a row, and Di Stefano continued his record in scoring in every European Cup final there had ever been. Subsequently, he was named European Footballer of the Year for a second time—the first player to achieve such a feat.
In 1960, Madrid and Di Stefano won their fifth consecutive Champions League trophy. Di Stefano scored, once again, in the final. The five-in-a-row is still a record that stands today, and doesn't look likely to be beaten anytime soon. That all-conquering Madrid side will go down to many as the greatest club side ever.
Di Stefano ended his European career with 49 goals in 58 matches, a record which stood until 2005 when Raul broke it. Since then, Andriy Shevchenko and Ruud van Nistelrooy have also overtaken him, but all in a lot more games.
The 1960 European Cup final is still, to many, the greatest match of football ever played. In a 7-3 demolition of Eintracht Frankfurt, Di Stefano scored a wonderful hat-trick, and strike partner Puskas scored four.
From 1961 to 1964, Di Stefano, now an ageing superstar, helped Madrid to four consecutive La Liga titles, before leaving the club to go to Espanyol in 1964. He retired in 1966, after scoring 216 goals in 282 league matches for Real Madrid, a record which stands to this day.
Overall in his career, he is said to have scored over 800 goals, with some saying as high as 893. Despite his genius, Di Stefano never played in a World Cup, he last real chance coming in 1964, when he was cruelly robbed by injury just weeks before the tournament.
In a poll to find the footballer of the century, Di Stefano finished fourth. Maradona himself has said that Di Stefano was better than Pele.
"The Blond Arrow" will forever be in the football history books as one of the greatest players ever, and rightly so.
This has been a tribute to Alfredo Di Stefano.
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