Seeing as we missed his birthday last week, we thought it only right that we honour one of the greatest to ever play the game, Alfredo Di Stéfano
And his path in football was certainly interesting, if nothing else. Born in 1926 in Barracas in Buenos Aires, the man known as
La Seta Rubia made his debut for River Plate at just 17 years of age. That was his only appearance in the league in a year in which River were crowned champions. In 1946, he was loaned to Huracán, where during the season he scored 10 goals. It was in 1947 however, where he began to fully realise his incredible potential.
That year, he scored 27 goals in 30 games for River, as well as making his debut for the Argentine national side, scoring six in six at the Copa América. Di Stéfano was already showing the type of play that would make him known as one of the greatest of all time, but his career in Argentina was interrupted by the footballer's strike which began in 1949, and he moved to Bogotá in Colombia to play for Millonarios. Interestingly, the regulations in those days allowed you to play for the country that you were living in, and he made a handful of appearances for the Colombian national squad too.
From there, Millionarios toured Europe, and all of a sudden Di Stéfano was one of the hottest properties in world football. This was the beginning of yet another controversy in the long running rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona, as both clubs claimed that they had signed the player, and the Catalans claiming that the Spanish dictator himself had gotten involved to ensure the Argentine ended up playing for Madrid.
This situation is somewhat murky, but it seems that negotiations between the Colombian club and Barcelona were protracted, involved several parties, and at one stage the Catalans were accused of using bullying tactics. Eventually, some form of agreement had been signed between the two clubs and although FIFA recognised that accord, Spanish football's governing body didn't. Seeing an opportunity, Santiago Bernabeu (the man for whom Real named their stadium) swooped in, and convinced Di Stéfano his future lay in the white shirt of Madrid.
The rest, as they say, is history, as he ended up playing for Real Madrid, and was the key player as the team dominated Europe and Spain across the 1950s and '60s.
In 1953, Alfredo began his first season in Spain, and from the very start, he was a phenomenon. That year he made 28 appearances, and scored 27 goals which is a fairly decent return we must say. He barely let up that rate of scoring for all his time there, with his lowest haul coming in his last season at the club, still netting a respectable 17 goals.
He led Real Madrid to eight league titles and five European Cups in his time as a
merengue (pause there for a moment and think about what a staggering achievement that is),
and although many contend that Franco had a helping hand in boosting Real Madrid along the way to glory, the most telling influence was certainly from the man in midfield who has been described as one of the most complete players to ever play the game.
There's not a huge amount of footage of him knocking around, but here's a short clip where he shows off his skills to the local kids. Keep in mind that he's doing this with a ball that weighs as much as two wet bricks tied together with planks of wood.
http://youtu.be/Eu1ouKIu5jM
Seeing as he was also registered in Spain during that time at Madrid, he won a few caps with their national team also, and is one of the few players to have played for several different countries.
Overall, di Stéfano's impact on world football is probably too great to properly quantify, and unfortunately, we'll never know what may have happened had he been able to stay at River, or the type of impact he would have made. If you're a Real Madrid fan though, you should be pretty thankful there was a strike, or else the history of your favourite club may have been very different indeed.
