He was also involved in what is widely regarded as the greatest ever game of club football when Real defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 at Hampden Park in the 1960 final of the European Cup. Di Stefano scored a hat-trick, although he was out-scored by Hungarian Puskas who grabbed the other four.

He eventually left Real after 11 seasons when he fell out with the Bernabeu and returned to Barcelona to play for Espanyol, retiring two seasons later at the age of 40, 22 years after making his debut for River Plate.

His international career was less brilliant but he still managed to fire Argentina to victory in the 1947 Copa America, made a handful of unofficial appearances for a Colombia selection while at Millonarios and scored 23 goals in 31 games for Spain.

Di Stefano also had a distinguished career as a coach, managing Boca Juniors, River Plate, Valencia and Real Madrid.

Image: Di Stefano poses with Real Madrid's new signing, David Beckham at his official presentation in Madrid on July 2, 2003

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