Real Madrid Stars to Pay Tribute to 1950s 'Galactico' Puskas
David Beckham and Ronaldo, among Real Madrid's $300 million soccer players known as "Galacticos", are raising money for one of the Spanish club's original stars.
David Beckham and Ronaldo, among Real Madrid's $300 million soccer players known as "Galacticos," are raising money for one of the Spanish club's original stars.
Real Madrid, Europe's record nine-time soccer champion, is in Budapest to play an exhibition game Aug. 14 against the national team, in honor of Ferenc Puskas, Hungary captain in the 1950s and a Madrid striker as the club dominated the continent.
Puskas, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, "was Madrid's Hungarian Galactico," said Eduardo Pena, 75, a Real Madrid director from 1995 to 1999 who also witnessed Puskas's nine-year stint on the Spanish team, in a telephone interview. "We were astounded by his technique, fantastic left foot and powerful shot."
Puskas, 78, entered soccer history by captaining the first foreign team to beat England at its home stadium in London, in 1953, and then helping Real extend its European winning streak after joining the club in 1958 following his defection from communism. The Budapest-born goal-scorer was named among the 10 best players in history by FIFA, world soccer's governing body.
His former Real teammates will also be at the Ferenc Puskas stadium in Budapest to watch the match. They include Alfredo di Stefano, whose three goals to Puskas's four led to the 7-3 defeat of Eintracht Frankfurt and the lifting of the 1960 European Cup in Glasgow in front of 130,000 people.
Proceeds of the match will go to pay Puskas's healthcare bills. Puskas himself may be unable to attend the match due to his ill health, Gyorgy Szilvassy, a spokesman for the Hungarian football association, said in a phone interview.
Two-thirds of 45,000 tickets for the game, starting at 7 p.m. local time, were sold on the first day and a few thousand remain. Real Madrid will hold an open practice the day before for fans who can't attend the game, Szilvassy said.
"It will be a gala, Real will show off their silky skills," said Zoltan Korpas, 34, a recruitment consultant who is attending the match. "Puskas was a phenomenon, a football genius. He was a scoundrel in the good sense and has become a historic figure," he said in a telephone interview.
Sports daily Nemzeti Sport published stories about the match every day for the past two weeks. Nepszabadsag, Hungary's largest- circulation political newspaper, had 14 articles since the game was announced June 21.
To Hungarians, Puskas is best known for leading the squad called the "Aranycsapat" or "Golden Team," after winning the 1952 Olympics. A year later they beat England 6-3 in London before winning 7-1 in the return match in Budapest in 1954, still England's heaviest ever defeat.
Puskas's 83 goals in 84 appearances for Hungary was the most prolific record in international soccer until last year. Iran's Ali Daei now holds that honor, with 87 goals. Pele of Brazil had 77 international goals in his career.
It wasn't all success. Hungary traveled to the World Cup in Switzerland in 1954 as favorite. In the final against West Germany, Puskas's squad surrendered a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2.
While the defeat demolished the Hungarians' invincibility after four unbeaten years, it didn't affect Puskas's place in international soccer lore.
In 1956, the uprising against Soviet domination in Hungary culminated in Russian tanks rolling through Budapest and the break- up of the Golden team. Puskas never played for Hungary again. He signed with Real Madrid in 1958 and later gained Spanish citizenship and national team honors.
In Spain, his left foot earned him the nickname "Canoncito Pum," or the "the little cannon that goes boom." He netted 324 goals in 372 games for Real, ending the season as Spain's top scorer on four occasions.
"He was terrific, strong, unstoppable," Nilton Santos, 80, who won the 1958 World Cup with Brazil and played in a defeat to Hungary four years earlier, said in a phone interview from his home in Araruama, north of Rio de Janeiro.
Puskas, affectionately called "Ocsi," or "little brother," by Hungarians, was allowed to move back to Hungary in 1993. He became manager of the national squad and was later plastered on billboards advertising beer.
His 70th birthday party four years later was a national event. The 69,000-capacity Nepstadion arena in Budapest, built by the communist government to showpiece the Golden Team of Puskas, was renamed in his honor in 2001.