Di Stéfano arrived 60 years ago with Colombian side

ENRIQUE ORTEGO09/25/2012

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The presence of Millonarios at the Santiago Bernabeu Trophy, which will be played this coming Wednesday, recalls a historic event of global importance. It all started in Argentina, in 1949, with a footballers' strike. Without that union action, which ended up causing the departure of Alfredo di Stefano from River Plate to Millonarios de Bogotá, who knows whether the "blond arrow" would have arrived at Real Madrid to change their history, and that of Spanish, not to say world, football.

Until Di Stéfano arrived, Real Madrid had won only two league titles, both of them prior to the Civil War. During the eleven years that Di Stéfano played in Real Madrid's white shirt, they won five European Cups, eight league championships, one Intercontinental Cup, one Generalísimo Cup and two Latin Cups.

The relationship between Millonarios and Real Madrid started just 60 years ago, when the Spanish side celebrated their fiftieth anniversary with a triangular set of friendly matches, involving Sweden's Norrköping, and Colombia's Millonarios, a team featuring Alfredo di Stéfano, who astounded everyone by scoring three goals, two of them against Real Madrid themselves.

Santiago Bernabeu, president of Real Madrid, indicated that he was impressed by the performance of the blond Argentinian player, and a pitched battle began with Barcelona to sign Di Stéfano. In the end, Real Madrid won out, and what came after that is pure history.