Friday, May 18th, 2012
This season spanishfootball.info and elcentrocampista.com have linked up in a bid to give our readers something slightly different to our usual content. This month we’re featuring an article written by elcentrocampista editor Iain McMullen on the amazing transfer of Real Madrid Alfredo Di Stéfano who came extremely close to joining Barcelona. Iain and his team produce some fantastic articles on all aspects of Spanish football but we feel their real strong point is their historical pieces. We hope you enjoy the article and if you’re looking to improve your historical knowledge of Spanish football be sure to check their site out.
No footballer dominates the glorious history of Real Madrid more than the legendary Alfredo Di Stéfano.
A player whose arrival in Madrid became the catalyst for los blancos subsequent dominance of European football during the fifties and sixties. His legacy continues to run deep today at the club he became honoury president of in 2000. And yet Alfredo Di Stéfano’s career and football history could have been very different had he completed the move to his original destination, Real Madrid’s eternal rivals Futbol Club Barcelona.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1926, Di Stéfano came from a poor Italian imigrant family, one of thousands that had flooded into South America at the end of the 19thcentury searching for a better life. The young Argentine found his calling playing football on the dusty pitches of Barracas, a Barrio in the south of the sprawling city, and he joined his first club Los Cardales at the age of 12. After finding his forté as an attacking midfielder, Di Stéfano eventually signed for Buenos Aires powerhouse River Plate, breaking into the first team when he was still only 16-years-old.
The club had a well established and feared forward line when Di Stéfano arrived and in 1946 he went out on loan to Hurucán, in search of regular first team football. The youngster impressed in his short spell away and made a return to River Plate, aged 20. Once back at River, he broke into the starting XI and proved a revelation. Di Stéfano scored 79 goals in 95 games and began to carve a name for himself as one of the most exciting players in South American football.
In 1949 Argentina was hit by a crippling general strike and Di Stéfano moved north to the then-lucrative surroundings of Colombian club Millonarios, who had also recruited fellow Argentines Adolfo Pedernera and Néstor Rossi into the side. The three players formed a lethal attacking force at the Bogota club and the press soon referred to the side as the ‘Ballet azul’. During his four-year stay in Colombia Di Stéfano scored and amazing 267 goals in 294 games and soon became the hottest prospect in Latin American football, attracting unparralled interest from a host of European clubs.
It was Barcelona who made the first move.
The club’s hierarchy appointed Ramón Trias Fargas, a lawyer and son of a Millonarios shareholder, with the task of getting Di Stéfano to sign for the famous Catalan club and Fargas used his influence to great effect as he convinced Di Stéfano to move. It was then the problems began, as Barça legend and head scout Pep Samitier sent another representative, his Colombian friend Joan Busquets, to help with the negotiations. The arrival of Busquets caused confusion between all involved and led to, what would later prove to be a costly, delay in securing Di Stéfano’s signature.
However, the player eventually agreed to joined Barcelona and flew to Spain in 1953 to complete the transfer. FIFA had sanctioned the move but it soon emerged that both Millonarios and River Plate were owed money from the deal, and a formal complaint was lodged to the Spanish FA. A short delay was announced as the technicalities were addressed and Di Stéfano was left waiting to complete the final move to Barcelona. It was during this confusion that Barça’s bitter rivals, Real Madrid made their move.
Seeing a glorious opportunity to grab the initiative, Madrid president Santiago Bernabeú made contact with Di Stéfano and convinced the Argentine that his future belonged in the Spanish capital rather than Catalunya. The situation caused outcry in Spain and led to a temporary ban on foreign players being imported into La Liga, as the Spanish Football Federation attempted to defuse the situation.
On 15 September 1953 it was announced an agreement had been reached that would allow Di Stéfano to play in Spain for four seasons. Two at Real Madrid and two and Barcelona. There was a storm of protest in Barcelona as they accused their rivals of all manner of skull duggary but to no avail, and Di Stéfano began the first of his two seasons in the white of Madrid.
He stayed there for eleven years and the closest he came to playing for ‘la blaugrana’ was his one season at city neighbours Espanyol before he retired. Di Stéfano’s career at Real Madrid almost defined football during that period, as he inspired the club to eight league titles, one Copa del Rey, one Intercontinental cup and most famously, five consecutive European Cup triumphs.
Arguably Di Stéfano’s greatest performance was seen in the 1959/60 European Cup Final in Glasgow, when his hat-trick helped sink Eintract Frankfurt 7-3 in a game that also saw his team mate, the great Ferenc Puskas, net four goals. Alfredo Di Stéfano scored 246 goals in 302 games for Real Madrid and also wrote himself into the record books by representing Argentina, Spain and Colombia at International level. He later tried his hand at coaching, but found less success than he did as a player, and retired completely in 1991.
Described by Pele as ‘one of the greatest players to have played to game’, Alfredo Di Stéfano created a legacy at Real Madrid that still run strong over half a century later, and he is as revered today on the streets of the capital as he was almost sixty years ago.
As for the streets of Barcelona? well that’s another story…
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Tags: Alfredo Di Stefano
This was a transfer at gunpoint that changed the history of world’s football. Without Franco intervening, Di Stefano joins Barcelona and Franco can’t use Real Madrid to get his fascist regime prestige in the world by buying referees and European cups. Madrid’s trophy chamber is stained forever.
jean: if Franco “bought referees and European cups” as you claim then what he needed Di Stefano for? stop trolling
Definitely Franco did influenced the RM matches but by sending his fascist troops to intimidate the opposition players. You can always refer the 11-1 victory over Barca.If i can recall correctly it is the 2nd where Rm needs to win it to progress(they lost 1st to Barca 3-0 )To do so they (Franco/Rm) send his troops to barca and intimated at gun point.As for the Alfredo Di stefano transfer,It was more of a prestige issue showing who is the boss in spain.
PS:pls be respectful in the comments This is NOT Goal or soccernet
Yeah, I know about Franco’s “influence” but saying he bought Real’s European cups is going too far. That 11-1 was a game in ’43 in Copa Del Rey, long before transfer of Di Stefano and 5 consecutive wins of European Cup (would be 6 probably if not that “strange” game against Barcelona in which referee canceled 4 goals of Blancos).
With all due respect, I strongly disagree with you.First and fore-mostly Franco is Dictator who want a vehicle to probagate his Fascist idea.He wanted to suppress the Basques and Catalans.So he used RM and exploit its popularity for his political aspirations.When you have a full backing(The evidence implies that the Franco regime used Real Madrid’s success as an advertisement for the positive aspects of fascist Spain) of a Government and have best players(By threatening them to join RM) playing for you then it is quite easy to win everything (And without many clubs since only domestic champion can compete and Since RM had considerable influence over the spanish football, Referees often favors them so it was almost impossible for the other clubs to win the title).So he virtually bought every thing.In the ‘STRANGE GAME’(In the previous year two clubs had met in cl and there were accusations of ref favoring RM )Referee Reg Leafe even cancelled some Barca goals.Since to save some face President SB and stefano accuses the ref.In the words of a Historian, whose name i couldn’t recall, Franco had excellent propaganda department that made their story to make it appear how they want it to.
References:1.Phil Ball (a madrid historian)
2.Payne. The Franco Regime
.3. Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football 4.Barça: A People’s Passion
hi there!
To make some things clear, I acknowledge the facts that
a) Franco was a evil, wrong-doing dictator, I hate him as much as the next guy,
b) Franco and/or his militants had influence on football results.
Now, where we differ is in that I’m not sure (I repeat “not sure”) if Franco’s influence was as big as you, or many others claim. I can’t discuss it if only because I don’t have any strong opinion on that. Different people tell different things and it’s all mostly based on political views, personal stories, rumours, so called “popular opinion” or, last but not least, who are you fan of.
But, what I definitely don’t believe in is that Franco was so powerful that he was able to significantly influence the results of European Cup. He was a dictator, but dictator of Spain, not of the whole Europe.
Also it’s not true that Real had all the best players of the world back then and it was oh-so-easy to win European Cup. Just look at the names of the clubs they beat.
RM was simply a really great team back in those years. UEFA called them the best club of XXth century – and they did so long time after Franco’s death.