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Alfredo Di Stefano Quotes

Browse 12 quotes about Alfredo Di Stefano.

Alfredo Di Stefano Quotes

“Alfredo di Stéfano is maybe the greatest player I have ever seen. I watched him in a match when Manchester United played against Real in the semi-final of the European Cup in Madrid the year before the accident. In those days, there was no substitutes' bench; if you weren't playing, you were in the stand. I felt like I was looking down on what looked like a Subbuteo table—I was that high up—but I couldn't take my eyes off this midfield player and I thought, Who on earth is that? He ran the whole show and had the ball almost all the time. I used to dream of that, and I used to hate it when anyone else got it. They beat us 3-1 and he dictated the whole game. I'd never seen anything like it before—someone who influenced the entire match. Everything went through him. The goalkeeper gave it to him, the full backs were giving it to him, the midfield players were linking up with him and the forwards were looking for him. And there was Gento playing alongside and Di Stefano just timed his passes perfectly for him. Gento ran so fast you couldn't get him offside. And I was just sitting there, watching, thinking it was the best thing I had ever seen. But I had been forewarned a bit by Matt Busby, the manager at the time, because he had been across and seen them play a match in Nice before the semi—in those days it wasn't easy to do that—and, when he came back, we asked him what they were like, but he didn't want to tell us. And I understood why he didn't when I saw them. I think he knew that, if he had said they were the best players he'd ever seen, it would have been all over for us before we'd started. And this was when Di Stefano was thirty. What must he have been like in his youth?”

SportAssociation FootballAlfredo Di StefanoFrancisco Gento
Author:Bobby Charlton
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“Alfredo Di Stefano is Real Madrid. His alliance with this club changed the destiny of this institution. Alfredo was the best in every sense of the word, for how he revolutionised football and for the values he had. Now it is our duty to tell those who never him saw him play that he changed everything. Madrid was his home and his life and we will give him the homage he deserves. He came here to stay and his presence in Madrid is eternal. Alfredo Di Stefano, Real Madrid’s honorary president, Real Madrid will never forget you.”

SportAssociation FootballAlfredo Di Stefano
Author:Florentino Pérez
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