Alfredo Di Stéfano | 1953-1958

[Brezza]

Name: Alfredo Di Stéfano Laulhé

Nickname: "Blond Arrow"

Club: Real Madrid



Growth type: Standard/Lasting

INFO:

Spoiler: show

Arguably the most complete footballer of all time. Physically powerful, with unparalleled stamina, amazing skills and unwavering determination to win. He was capped by three countries, but ironically failed to take part in a World Cup! His other achievements were sensational enough to warrant him a place among the top players in the history.

After making a name for himself as a all-round attacker in Argentina, he went on to play in the then "outlawed" Colombian league with Millonarios from Bogota, where his goal average was almost one per game. He was approaching what was then considered veteran age when signed by Real Madrid.

It was the balding Argentinean who turned Real Madrid from Spanish also-rans into the biggest club, on the planet. He lead them to five consecutive European Champions' Cups, scoring in each and every final!

His most famous display was perhaps the one against Eintracht Frankfurt in Glasgow, when he netted three times (Puskas went one better) in a 7-3 win for the Spaniards.

Di Stefano is not far behind Pele or Maradona, and he's probably even more complete than Cruyff. His teammates often said that he was fantastic in defense (and could even play in goal), and probably no one had more stamina than him, ever. His position was a striker along side Puskas but from the videos I watched and the stuff I read he played like a DM more than half the time. He would often drop deep to defend his goal, win possession and play it to the wingers or bring it up himself hence high defense, lowish aggression and covering.

"Alfredo Di Stéfano was the greatest footballer of all time - far better even than Pelé. He was, simultaneously, the anchor in defence, the playmaker in midfield, and the most dangerous marksman in attack." - Helenio HERRERA

VIDEOS:

Spoiler: show

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_di_St%C3%A9fano

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_di_St%C3%A9fano

http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/alfredo-di-stefano/

http://www.football-history.net/who-is- ... tefano.htm

http://www.ifhof.com/hof/alfredodistefano.asp

[Raúl-7]

I'm starting to think we did wrong putting his technique under reds, and considered how he dominated the game and the number of goals he scored... he may deserve higher ATT as well.

Agree with you. I'd suggest technique 95 and attack 97. Moreover, I'm not sure about it but maybe we could also add one or two points in shot accuracy.

[Yazid]

Attack 95 is fine imo, but I do agree with tech in the reds, 95-96, I don't put him on the same level as francescoli.

Also, LPA could be higher, 87-88 would suit him well imo.

[Korinov]

We had agreed on a plain 90 for LPA. Regarding ATT... I see him on 96. He was a incredibly dangerous player in all kind of attacking movements. Topscorer of the spanish league several times, scored in all 5 European Cup finals RM won, etc. It's actually funny because if you see footage of him, when in midfield he moves like a very graceful playmaker, really tricky with body movements, both fluid and elegant... but when he approaches the box, he speeds up, becomes more direct, sharper. In terms of pure game vision he was unrivaled in his prime... I agree to have Puskas higher than him in ATT just because Puskas was the ultimate striker of the time and could score from every position and situation. But Di Stéfano was really really something, pretty much mastered every aspect of the game (except maybe goalkeeping), did everything and did it well.

I've been testing lately this set:

Spoiler: show

Attack: 96
Defence: 75
Balance: 78
Stamina: 94
Top Speed: 86
Acceleration: 85
Response: 92
Agility: 85
Dribble Accuracy: 94
Dribble Speed: 85
Short Pass Accuracy: 90
Short Pass Speed: 72
Long Pass Accuracy: 90
Long Pass Speed: 75
Shot Accuracy: 93
Shot Power: 80
Shot Technique: 92
Free Kick Accuracy: 80
Curling: 83
Header: 80
Jump: 76
Technique: 95
Aggression: 85
Mentality: 90
Keeper Skills: 50
Teamwork: 99

Same cards as above, except Free Roaming instead of Dummy Runner, and plus Penalty Taker.

[Yazid]

Tbh, having a look at di stefano, he does seem to warrant even higher attack than 95, 97 is where cruyff is ranked, I would suggest that is fair for di stefano, but puskas should be higher, 98 if not 99.

[Akiak]

96 sounds ok for attack, I think he should be under Cruyff(and Puskas).

Also, TW can never be over Cruyff. Honestly we could give 99 to both.

[jurgens]

98 TW is already exaggerated, let alone 99. People move more/better nowadays than he did back then, it's just that hes playing like players aren't really allowed to play.. like hey I can do everything by myself, so I'll try do that. Many box to box players... even just recently, cambiasso in his prime, his movement around the pitch to support is imo better than di Stefanos. It's just that Di stefano shows up in more extreme postions in his role that players don't really do much nowadays, that isn't really TW.. just switching roles during a match.

[Defo]

To me, Di Stefano's way of being a total footballer was more like "world class att + world class def + world class tw", rather than "world class attack + world class def + god-mode tw". Personally the only players I'd put on a god-like TW are Xavi, Cruijff, Cocu and Baresi.

[Korinov]

I'm going to test him with 95 TW or so, my goal with such a high TW value was actually to make him as supportive as possible so he would appear "everywhere" on the pitch like he did IRL. With 98/99 it worked, if it works with a lower value too... then a lower value it is.

BTW, someone else has loading problems with this thread or it's just me? It loads much much slower than other threads, dunno if it's due to something wrong in the first post.

[Keaty22]

Yeah, i noticed that it does take a long time to load

[Yazid]

Yeah, it takes forever to load, LPA needs an upgrade.

[Korinov]

Fixed. It was the old imageshack pic that failed to load and caused problems.

BTW... any thoughts about his curling? As far as I've seen he mostly shot straight, little swerve except maybe in penalty kicks. Konami gives him a default 85 but I don't know... it makes him unrealistic when shooting from the outside of the box, instead of a strong, straight shot to the low corner he delivers a curled one to the upper corner. I'm gonna test him with lower values.

[Korinov]

Updated.

[Yazid]

Big changes, and it won't be without controversy, can I ask why stamina is oranges? I agree 99 was somewhat OP, but he deserves a red value imo.

[Korinov]

Even considering how supportive he was and how much he moved around the field, I'm not sure if the general pace and rythm of the game back then really required a red stamina in order to do such a thing. Even if he moved around quite a lot, I don't think it's comparable to the "hound midfielders" (i.e. Davids, Makelele, Keane, etc) of modern football. If I have to compare him to someone like Xavi, then I do think Di Stéfano deserves higher. Like this, he's two points above Xavi. To be honest, I'm not exactly against 95 stamina... but 94 also seems ok to me. Would like to know what others may think too.

[Raúl-7]

Here are a few suggestions for the new set being worse than the previous one in my opinion:

Attack: 96 (fine)
Defence: 75 (fine)
Balance: 80 (number from the previous set, which fits him much better in my opinion because although being tackled quite often, he nevertheless could resist it quite well. He was a strong guy, very pert, repulsive, strong on his feet. I've seen lot of his matches and really I never saw that some other has declined him or kicked out his movements, he was so stable on the ground.)
Stamina: 96 (Considering his permanent movement on the pitch during the whole match without getting tired or loosing concentration is why I'd give him at least 95 or better 96 in stamina)
Top Speed: 86 (fine)
Acceleration: 85 (fine)
Response: 92 (fine)
Agility: 85 (fine)
Dribble Accuracy: 95 (His DA was at least on par with Kopa, so he should have 95 in it again)
Dribble Speed: 85 (fine)
Short Pass Accuracy: 90 (fine)
Short Pass Speed: 72 (fine)
Long Pass Accuracy: 90 (fine)
Long Pass Speed: 75 (fine)
Shot Accuracy: 93 (fine)
Shot Power: 83 (He could hit the ball quite hard when he wanted to so this is why in my opinion sp 83 fits him better than just 80)
Shot Technique: 92 (fine)
Free Kick Accuracy: 80 (fine)
Curling: 80 (fine)
Header: 83 (fine)
Jump: 76 (fine)
Technique: 95 (fine)
Aggression: 85 (fine)
Mentality: 95 (definitely deserves a red value in it as he was a true leader on the pitch who was constantly motivating his team mates especially when Real's side laid back. It was Di Stéfano then who tried his best to win the game nevertheles, e.g. in the European Cup final 1956 in which Real Madrid back laid three times and where Di Stéfano not only scored a goal but also shouted at his team mates to try their very best during the whole match. It is also mentionned in this vid that although never having been captain of Real Madrid, Di Stéfano was the true leader and motivator of the team: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnaPY0Osz7k)
Keeper Skills: 60 (fine)
Teamwork: 97 (1 point less than Cruyff, a value he definitely merits as he was the most unselfish player I've ever seen. He's always been playing for the team and not for himself. All in all, he's maybe not on the very same level as Cruyff but almost, so this is why he definitely needs such a hight teamwork value.)

Condition/Fitness: 8 (fine)
Weak Foot Accuracy: 7 (fine)
Weak Foot Frequency: 5 (fine)

[Korinov]

I'm starting to think we've been a bit generous with his passing skills. Good? Yes. Able to produce some really nice passes (both ground and high) from time to time? Yes. 90? Probably not. I've had no issues replicating his passing ingame with high yellows. I don't know... even if I compare his short passing with non-godly 90s footballers like Pantic I still don't see why Di Stéfano needs oranges to be well replicated ingame. Maybe it's just me.

On the other hand, after watching a decent amount of footage, he looks like a really clinical finisher to me. In some of the matches he's just brutally effective... the UCL final against Eintracht, four shots -> three goals and a post (even if two are just tap-ins). I suppose that's how someone can become such a proficient and regular goalscorer over the years.

[jurgens]

I've already given my opinion on it, if di stefano is a 90, then a lot of players are also a 90, wasn't a 90 good. His placement did always look pretty good to me, but I honestly didn't see all that much of it.
I still don't see his tech as this high either, just never looked like a 95 clean.

[Korinov]

I remember some impressive trappings from him in the footage I've seen, then again, an orange value would probably be enough to replicate it.

Any concrete ideas about the passing values, btw? I've been playing with 87 SPA and 88 LPA and have no problems with it.

[Yazid]

88 SPS? I thought we agreed that low end passing speeds better replicated the game back in the 60s.

[Korinov]

Wrong typo