HOW ALFREDO DI STÉFANO AND FERENC PUSKÁS BECAME FOOTBALL’S MOST PROLIFIC PARTNERSHIP

Most British football fans would undoubtedly agree that Alfredo Di Stéfano and his partner Ferenc Puskás were the best strikers in Europe, if not the world. Few, however, had seen their abilities except from the occasional clip on television or a Pathé News feature at the cinema.

For football fans of a particular age, the memories of the first live European Cup Final they ever saw on television will live on forever. It's May 18, 1960, and the combined talents of Di Stéfano, an Argentine, and Puskás, a Hungarian, are about to be beamed to an eager Home Nations audience via their crude monochrome television sets at Glasgow's Hampden Park.

Both Di Stéfano and Puskás' scoring performances have stood the test of time. In the final of Europe's most prestigious cup competition, they combined to score seven goals against top-tier opposition. No other striking combo has ever come close, which is especially more astounding given that they were both 33 years old at the time.

Surprisingly, Puskás was at the center of a furious debate, which nearly prevented the final from taking place. Hungary lost the 1954 World Cup final against West Germany, whom they had defeated 8-3 in the group stage.

As a result, Real had won the trophy for the fifth year in a row. Nonetheless, this was the first time Di Stéfano and Puskás had played in a European Cup final together, as injury had forced the Magyar to miss the 1959 final. It was their final victory in the competition since the passage of time was catching up with them, but what an effect they had left on the British psyche.

Following Real's defeat to Iberian rivals Benfica in the 1962 final, Puskás scored another hat-trick at the age of 35, making him the only player to score three goals or more in two European Cup Finals.

Alfredo Di Stéfano was born on July 4, 1926, in Buenos Aires, where legend has it that he developed his amazing stamina while racing through the capital's streets. He began his incredible career at River Plate at the age of 19, but he was initially leased out to Club Atlético Huracán, where his daring play and eye for goal won him the nickname 'La Saeta Rubia,' or the Blond Arrow.

Argentina's football was paralyzed at the time due to an acrimonious players' strike, and Di Stéfano took advantage of the situation to flee his homeland.

Torino, who had lost the majority of their squad in the devastating Superga Air Disaster, wanted to build their new team around him, but in 1949, he signed for the appropriately named Millonarios of Bogotá, who could offer fantastic wages to attract foreign players because Colombia had left FIFA and were thus not bound by its restrictions. A few English internationals, like Neil Franklin of Stoke City, accepted financial incentives to play there during the time. Di Stéfano was a productive striker for his team, scoring 100 goals in 110 games.

Di Stéfano led the Spanish league in scoring for four of the next five seasons, and he scored in every European Cup final from 1956 to 1960. Since then, no player has ever scored in five consecutive finals. In 390 games for Real Madrid, he scored 308 goals, including 54 in 62 European matches.

He exhibited arrogance and selfishness as a player, yet he was incredibly productive as a deep-lying center-forward.Alfredo became Real's heart and soul. He was the conductor, and his colleagues were the instruments.

Real won LaLiga in his first two seasons and again in 1956/57, but from 1955 onwards, the club's attention shifted to establishing itself as the best side in Europe through dominance of the newly founded European Cup.

Throughout these years, Di Stéfano had been paired with a variety of strike partners, including Brazilian Didi and Frenchman Raymond Kopa, but none had the success that his combination with Ferenc Puskás would.

Puskás was born on April 2, 1927, in Budapest. He was a key member of the legendary Magyar team that defeated England 6-3 at Wembley in 1953 and then nearly missed winning the World Cup in 1954. When the 1956 Hungarian revolt occurred, he was playing for the Army side Honvéd FC, who were returning from a European Cup fixture against Athletic Club.

The insurgency was quickly put down, but Puskás and several of his teammates refused to return to Hungary, and as a result, FIFA effectively placed him in 'quarantine' and barred him from participating.

Now that Kopa had returned to France, Santiago Bernabéu was keen to add Puskás to his 1950s version of the Galácticos, seeing him as the ideal match for Di Stéfano. Despite criticism from other board members, he signed him before the 1958/59 season began, using his intermediaries to urge UEFA to ease the FIFA punishment.

Puskás proved to be the ideal foil for Di Stéfano, but more crucially, he was content for his partner to be regarded as the team's star. In the final game of his debut season, he and Di Stéfano were tied for LaLiga's best scorers. Instead of scoring, Puskás sent the ball across an open goal for his partner to bury into the empty net. Di Stéfano has discovered his ideal match.

Puskás scored 240 goals in 260 Real Madrid matches, including 35 in 39 European Cup appearances. For four seasons, he was LaLiga's leading scorer. Puskás was a pure goalscorer, never coming back for the ball or spraying it about the pitch, which was why he complimented Di Stéfano so well. The collaboration worked because he accepted that his striking companion would always be the center of attention, and he was fine with that. He acknowledged that at Real, Di Stéfano tolerated no challengers on his platform, as Didi and Kopa discovered to their detriment.

The pair's association lasted six seasons, from 1958 to 1964, and they both played their final match together at the age of 70, as Real fell 3-1 to Internazionale in the European Cup final in Vienna. Di Stéfano had left for Espanyol by the start of the following season.

Both men were in their early 30s when they formed their partnership, and together they won four consecutive LaLiga titles, a Copa del Rey, a European Cup, and were finalists on two occasions, making them arguably the most prolific and successful scoring partnership to have performed at the top level of European, if not world football.