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The world of football is in mourning for the death of Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stéfano, one of the greatest footballers to have ever graced the pitch

Alfredo Di Stéfano passed away today aged 88 at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid. The honorary president of Real Madrid was admitted on Saturday after suffering a heart attack, which left him in a critical condition. The world of sport is mourning the death of one of the greatest footballers of all time.

He was undoubtedly one of the best player in the world in the history of the beautiful game – and also the most decisive in the 111 years of Real Madrid’s history. Madrid had only won two Liga titles up to 1953, but after Di Stéfano’s arrival in 1953 until his departure in 1964, they would win eight league titles, five European Cups, an Intercontinental Cup, a Spanish Cup and two Latin Cups. He was one of Santiago Bernabéu’s dreams, and he helped ‘Los Blancos’ earn their place amongst the elite of world football. He was Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé.

His style of football and its importance to the team can only be described using superlatives, even though it was French journalists who called him ‘L’omnipresent’. This was Alfredo Di Stéfano, a star player who would race back to defend, win the ball back, initiate attacks and rally the team when they were down. Rogelio Domínguez, the Argentine goalkeeper who spent five years with Alfredo in Madrid defined his greatness in an interview with AS: “Di Stéfano was the best player in the world because he wasn’t 100/100 at anything, but he was 85 of everything”.

As far as football was concerned he couldn’t have wished for a better schooling. He featured for both of his neighbourhood teams - Once and Venceremos (he was nicknamed Minellita for his likeness to River Plate midfielder Minella) and later, Imán. Aged 18, he passed a trial at River Plate where he would make a name for himself in a team which featured the famous ‘La Máquina’ forward line of Muñoz, Moreno, Pedernera, Labruna and Loustau. In 1947 Di Stéfano broke into the side following a year on loan at CA Huracán. It was during this time that the journalist Roberto Neuberger dubbed him ‘La Saeta Rubia’ (‘The Blonde Arrow’).

Strike action affected Argentine football and Di Stéfano moved to Colombia to sign for Millonarios de Bogotá. Team mates Pedernera and Rossi joined him – the trio becoming known as the ‘Blue Ballet’. In March of 1952, Real Madrid President Santiago Bernabéu was impressed after seeing Di Stéfano playing with Millonarios – one of the two teams invited to the Bodas de Oro tournament to marks the club’s 50th anniversary.

In September of 1953 he arrived in Madrid following a dispute with Barcelona, which is another story in itself. Di Stéfano cost Madrid 5,750,000 pesetas, (4,400,000 paid to Barça plus 1,350,000 to Millonarios), in what turned out to be Madrid’s finest ever investment in a player. From there, history begins for Real Madrid. On September 23 1953, the Argentinean made his debut with Real Madrid in a friendly game against Nancy. The match was lost 2-4, and the forward looked tired (he’d only arrived in Madrid that morning on the train from Barcelona), and furthermore, he was 5 kilograms overweight. Four days later, against Racing at home, he made his Liga debut in the third game of the season.

The expectation was extraordinary, and Di Stéfano, as always, did not disappoint, although he wasn’t in top form given he’d been nine months without kicking a ball. That day, he scored his first goal for his new employers - the prelude to a fantastic season. Di Stéfano scared opposition defences. His versatility was met with envy, admiration and desperation from opposition managers. Real Madrid won the league again with him in their ranks, 21 years after their last triumph. Alfredo played 28 times and scored 27 goals, seeing him finish as the competition’s top scorer, seeing off competition from his close friend Ladislao Kubala. He was also determined to make sure Madrid’s closes rivals remembered him. He helped Madrid to a 5-0 win over reigning champions Barcelona at the Bernabéu with two goals, whilst he scored a backheel against Madrid’s city rivals in a 2-1 victory at home and two away.

More spectacular perhaps, was Madrid’s triumph over Valencia in the penultimate game of the season, with three goals from the ‘Blonde Arrow’. The spectacular, together with startling efficiency comprised his recipe for success.

Bernabéu understood that he would have to improve the team year upon year to help his star performer. Next season Héctor Rial arrived upon Di Stéfano’s express recommendation, as did Santamaría, Kopa, Domínguez, Puskas and Del Sol, amongst others. Di Stéfano now had a friend on the pitch, with whom he could combine, or “break through walls”, as he later said. As a team, Madrid functioned to perfection. Di Stéfano, impressive in every facet of play, felt more secure, and scored 25 goals, helping Madrid retain the league title. Rial, meanwhile, played every game that season and scored 18 goals. The impact of Di Stéfano in Spain was impressive, and he showed his ability to all of Europe as Real Madrid won the Latin Cup with ease, beating a Stade de Reims side which boasted half of the French national team. It would be a few months later, when the European Cup started, that his figures really started to stand out. On September 8 of 1955, the Whites started their European adventure in Geneva against Servette. Then came the first five European titles, in which Di Stéfano starred. It goes without saying that he scored in the five finals that the side won, and he reached a total of 49 goals in 58 games. The final in Glasgow (18-5-1960) against Eintracht, is considered the best ever. It was the unforgettable day that Puskas scored four goals and Di Stéfano three, although he would later admit that he felt the Brussels final against AC Milan two years earlier was the better game of the two.

Alfredo reached the zenith of his career in the 56-57 campaign, aged 30. In October of 56 he became a Spanish national and celebrated with a league and European Cup double. In the domestic competition he scored 31 times in 30 games. Now with a Spanish passport, on 30/1/1957 he made his debut with Spain against Holland (5-1), scoring thrice. France Football gave him that year’s Ballon d’Or, which he won again in 1959.

Madrid were a well-oiled, unstoppable machine, and each year they were improving with Bernabéu’s well thought out reinforcements. Alfredo was always well surrounded, but he made the difference. For this he won eight league titles, five European Cups, one domestic cup, one Intercontinental Cup and won the top scorer award five times. He always said that “a game without goals is like a Sunday without sun”.

There was also darker days – Spain’s absence from the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden and then a back complaint four years later before Chile ’62 meant that he was never able to take part in the finals. And there was fear too – he was kidnapped by the Armed Forces of National Liberation and held captive for three days while Madrid were on tour in Caracas in August 1963. It was a carbon copy of the kidnapping of Juan-Manuel Fangio by Cuban revolutionaries five years earlier. “I thought they were going to kill me”, Alfredo would later say of the incident.

He was released unharmed but his playing days at Madrid were nearing an end. Di Stéfano’s swansong came at the Prater stadium in Vienna when, aged 38, he made his final appearance for the club as Madrid were defeated 3-1 by Inter Milan in the European Cup final. Di Stéfano pointed the finger at Miguel Muñoz for the defeat, the coach responded by calling time on the player’s career at the Bernabéu and after 396 appearances in official competition (510 in total), the Argentine would be moving on.

After that final, Madrid’s only commitment was the Copa semi-final meeting with Atlético. Muñoz decided not to include Di Stéfano in the squad list and while President Santiago Bernabéu offered the player the chance to stay on at the club “in whatever capacity”, Di Stéfano accepted an offer from Laszlo Kubala to join Espanyol. Nothing was quite the same afterwards.

Curiously, Espanyol’s first opponents of the new season were Real Madrid and so Di Stéfano found himself up against his old team mates at Estadi Sarrià on the opening day. Madrid won the match 2-1 and Di Stéfano would go on to hit seven goals in 24 outings in his first season – which he followed with four goals in 23 games in his second and final season as a player.