Alfredo Di Stéfano

Alfredo Di Stéfano is usually listed as a forward, but the label undersells him. The son of a former River Plate defender, he became the central figure of the Real Madrid side that won the first five European Cups. A journalist, Roberto Neuberger, gave him the nickname "Saeta Rubia", the Blond Arrow, while he was at River. At River Plate, Carlos Peucelle first put him on the wing, where he struggled. Moved into the centre for a match against Atlanta, he helped River win 6–1, and soon his teammates were fitting around his game rather than the reverse; in 1947 he was the league's top scorer. On loan at Huracán the year before, he had scored against River after about ten seconds, the quickest goal in Argentine championship history. After a players' strike he moved to Millonarios in Bogotá, where he kept himself in excellent physical shape and won the Colombian league three times. Madrid signed him in 1953 after a long fight with Barcelona over his rights. He was 27 and had gone seven months without a game, yet he did not bend to European football. He brought his own habits, roaming the whole pitch at speed and keeping the ball on the ground. He finished top scorer in La Liga five times and scored in every one of the European Cup finals Madrid won, among them a hat-trick against Eintracht Frankfurt at Hampden Park. He won the Ballon d'Or twice and is still the only player given the Super Ballon d'Or. What set him apart was range. In a snowbound away leg at Partizan Belgrade in the first European Cup, with Madrid losing heavily and clinging to their first-leg lead, he dropped back to help defend in the closing minutes and they went through. In Argentina he once even went in goal for a few minutes against Boca Juniors and kept a clean sheet. The New York Times obituary called him "agile, tireless and versatile", and The Guardian noted that many former players and managers rated him the best all-round player ever. He was known for his awareness, his accurate passing and his stamina, and for being able to play anywhere. He also had strong opinions and did not keep them to himself. Didi, the Brazilian World Cup winner whose style overlapped with his, often clashed with him, and before the 1964 final against Inter he openly criticised Miguel Muñoz's plan for handling Giacinto Facchetti. Inter won, and it was his last game for Madrid. He never played at a World Cup either: the one time he qualified, with Spain for 1962, a muscle injury just before the tournament kept him out of the finals. Still, he reached double figures for fifteen straight seasons before joining Espanyol, and played on there until just short of his 40th birthday.