Real Madrid's 5 greatest players of all time

#1 Alfredo Di Stefano

Alfredo Di Stefano

Alfredo Di Stefano is the most influential player in Real Madrid’s history. To many, he is the greatest footballer of all time. Pele himself called him the finest player of all time. To others like Johan Cruyff, he was second only to Pele. According to Sir Bobby Charlton, Di Stefano was the most complete footballer of all time. Such debates might continue till eternity, but what cannot be denied is the fact that Di Stefano’s achievements with Real Madrid have very few parallels in the history of football.

Di Stefano won 5 consecutive European Cups with the club in the 1950s, a record that has not been broken yet. Apart from that, he won 8 La Ligas for Real in his 11 years with the club. Di Stefano also won 2 Ballon D’Ors in his career. There were superb players like Gento, Santamaria and Puskas in that brilliant Real Madrid side of the 1950s, but Di Stefano was the pick of the lot.

The stand-out aspect in Di Stefano’s game was its versatility. He was a prolific centre-forward and scored 308 goals in 396 matches for Real, but could play in the midfield too. He could also be the typical play-maker, playing passes and creating moves for his teammates. Di Stefano could play as a defensive midfielder as well.

Such versatility made him indispensable as a footballer. The “Blonde Arrow”, as Di Stefano was popularly known as, remains the greatest footballer in the history of this great club.

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