By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
The early
days of the European Cup were dominated by the power of Real Madrid. One of their greatest ever performances came
in the 1960 European Cup Final as German club Eintracht Frankfurt were blown
away in the final, held at Hampden Park in Scotland.
127,000 spectators
packed into the Glasgow stadium to watch a real exhibition of football from the
Spanish giants in a game that is still talked about as one of the greatest
matches in the history of the sport.
The Real
Madrid squad (team pictured) of the early 1960s were full of flair, creativity and goals. Combining brilliantly in attack were
Hungarian attacker Ferenc Puskas and the Argentine Alfredo di Stefano. They were backed up usefully by Luis del Sol,
Jose Santamaria and Francisco Gento.
Over two legs
in the semi-finals, Madrid had overcome great Spanish rivals Barcelona 6-2, but
Eintracht Frankfurt were no mugs at this level.
They had managed to thump Rangers 12-4 on aggregate in two similar
semi-final battles. The match was in
doubt for a few weeks as the German FA had banned their clubs from taking part
in games with any team containing the often outspoken Puskas.
Six years
earlier, the all-conquering Hungarian side of the 1950s were beaten 3-2 in the
World Cup final by West Germany. In the aftermath,
an upset Puskas made the accusation that the West German team had used
performance enhancing drugs to gain an unfair advantage. He had to write a formal apology to the
Football Association from West Germany before the match could go ahead without
any issues.
It was
Frankfurt who opened the scoring, through Richard Kreß, but this only made
Madrid a stronger proposition and they ultimately overpowered their rivals with
a devastating all-out attacking display.
Di Stefano scored twice in the first half and on the stroke of
half-time, Puskas also found the target from the most impossible of angels to
put the favourites 3-1 ahead going into the interlude.
The final
turned into a two-man show as Puskas and Di Stefano continued to run the show
after the break. Puskas notched his
second of the game from a debatable penalty, before completing his hat-trick with
a header and then smashing home his fourth goal inside a post as the Spanish
power shone through.
It was real
entertainment for the hundreds of thousands of fans watching on, and they knew
they were watching something quite incredible.
When Erwin Stein grabbed a consolation, Puskas played in Di Stefano just
moments later and he also earned himself a deserved hat-trick. Even to this day, only one other player in
the history of the European Cup and UEFA Champions League has scored a
hat-trick in the final.
Eintracht,
who had the first word, also scored the final goal of a breathtaking game. Stein took advantage of a risky backpass to
reduce the arrears again, but the final score was a resounding 7-3 to Real Madrid.
It was their
fifth successive European Cup, which is still a record and ensured the club’s
place as one of Europe’s most decorated outfits.
It might be
over a decade since they last won the major prize in European football, but
Real Madrid will be back winning the Champions League again in the future. Their legendary status was created on this
remarkable day by club legends Puskas and Di Stefano.
DATE: 18 May 1960
LOCATION: Hampden Park, Glasgow
ATTENDANCE: 127,621
REFEREE: Jack Mowat (Scotland)
FINAL SCORE: Real Madrid 7-3 Eintracht Frankfurt
GOALSCORERS: Richard Kreß 18, Alfredo di Stefano
27, 30, 73, Ferenc Puskas 45, 56, 60, 71, Erwin Stein 72, 75
TEAMS – Real Madrid: Rogelio Dominguez, Marquitos, Jose Santamaria, Pachin,
Jose Maria Vidal, Jose Maria Zarraga, Canario, Luis del Sol, Francisco Gento,
Ferenc Puskas, Alfredo Di Stefano
Eintracht Frankfurt: Egon Loy, Friedel Lutx, Hans
Weilbacher, Hermann Hofer, Hans-Walter Eigenbrodt, Dieter Stinka, Richard Kreß,
Erwin Stein, Dieter Lindner, Elrich Meier, Alfred Pfaff
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