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THE FALL OF MADRID
| On November 23, 1960, Di Stéfano and his Real Madrid teammates suffer their first ever defeat in a European Cup tie. Real had 3 goals disallowed and hit the woodwork twice. This defeat turned out to be turning point of Di Stéfano's European adventure. And Real Madrid would never be the same. |
 Di Stéfano heading the ball in the greatest ever encounter between Real Madrid and Barcelona. |
 Real Madrid's opponent in the 1962 European Cup Final |
Real Madrid would reach 2 more European Cup Finals under Alfredo's guidance. The 1962 defeat by Eusebio's Benfica showed the importance of Di Stéfano to the Madrid team. In the first half, Di Stéfano lied deep and controlled the game for Real. He also provided one of the most stunning through passes for Puskas to complete his hat-trick. |
| For all the talents of Puskas and Gento, Benfica
manager Guttmann knew who the real danger man was and sent Cavem to mark
Alfredo in the second-half. With Di Stéfano heavily marked,
Real struggled to build their attacks and Benfica now completely dominated
the game. They scored 3 second half goals and won the match 5-3,
and thus the 1962 European Cup.
REAL DANGER
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- HIS LAST CHANCE |
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VAIN EFFORT Di Stéfano doing some light training in the Spanish camp for the 1962 World Cup finals. |
However, luck was not on his side when he suffered an injury prior to the tournament. Di Stéfano did not managed to recover in time and could not play in any game. A star-studded Spanish team, although packed with world stars such as Puskas, Suarez, Gento, Del Sol and Santamaria, could not even get past the first round. This perhaps shows how important Di Stéfano was. |
BEGINNING OF AN END
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When the next European Cup Final came around,
Di Stéfano was already 38. And with Alfredo getting older
everyday, Real's bid to return to glory became more and more difficult.
Di Stéfano, was now criticized as being slow. Alfredo perhaps
tried too hard to justify himself to the media and ended up having an unhappy
time.
AGEING MASTER
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LEAVING MADRID
| In 1964, Real Madrid again reached the European Cup Final but was defeated 3-1 by Italy's Inter and their catenaccio tactics. The match proved to be Di Stéfano's last major game for Real. He then moved to Espanol of Barcelona, scoring 19 goals in next two seasons. |
RCD Espanyol Di Stéfano's last club as a player |
ADIOS...
| In 1966, a back injury finally forced the Argentine-born maestro to retire at the age of 40. A tearful Alfredo played his farewell match against Scottish side Celtic in the Charmatin, Real Madrid's stadium, later to be known as the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. | 
FAREWELL Di Stéfano leading Real Madrid to the field for his farewell match against Celtic of Glasgow. (Note: The above picture was coloured by me, contact me beforehand if you want to use it.) |
COACHING CAREER
Di Stéfano the trainer |
After a long and successful 32-year playing
career, Di Stéfano took up coaching. In 1970, he led Boca
Juniors to the Argentine league title. He coached Portugal's Sporting
Lisbon for part of their 1974-75 season. And later, in 1981, he returned
to his old club River Plate and again won the Argentine championship.
He moved back to Spain soon afterwards and coached Valencia to the Spanish
championship (the club's first victory in 24 years) and then the European
Cup Winner's Cup. He managed Real Madrid in two short spells during
the 1982-1983 and 1990-1991 seasons. |
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LOOK AT DI STEFANO'S
RECORDS AND OTHER HONOURS
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