In response to Cristiano Ronaldo’s rant that Real Madrid have always “erroneously” placed him second to Don Alfredo di Stefano, who is considered a legend at the Santiago Bernabue, the club says both are recognized for their immeasurable contributions but will never match each other for some reasons explained below.
Let me tell you a story, Cristiano.
This Thursday, 64 years have passed since the official debut of Di Stefano in the white shirt, the best of all time.
When Don Alfredo arrived in Madrid it was a football team, when he left it was the biggest sports club in history. He arrived at a club with just two league titles in 25 years, when he left they had ten and five European Cups as well.
You are a huge player, Cristiano, but Di Stefano has been, and always will be the King.
Ronaldo left Madrid, Spain for Juventus after the Spanish tax authorities-initiated lawsuits against him ended in huge debt repayments.
As a compensation for the weighty loss which he claimed to be the fault of his assessors, Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes asked for a salary review but were turned down by a club president who simply said “no.”
Image shows Cristiano Ronaldo and Alfredo di Stefano
The Portuguese footballer also had moral issues to the disagreement; his closest rival Lionel Messi earned double his wages and Neymar scooped more after joining Ligue 1 club, Paris Saint-Germain. Moreover, living in the shadow of Alfredo di Stefano proved a sad, infinite reality.
Knowing there was nothing he could have done to become Los Blancos’ best ever player, Mendes and Ronaldo chose to ply their trade in Turn, taking away the decade-long, fierce and monotonous competition in La Liga.
