Alfredo Di Stefano is up the with the very best when it comes to ranking the greatest footballers of all time. He scored 308 goals for Real Madrid and won the Ballon d'Or twice in an astonishingly good career.
With his career spanning from the 1940s all the way up until the '60s, he would have been more than familiar with the famous Celtic side that won the European Cup in 1967. In fact, there was one player from Lisbon Lions who he 'greatly admited.'
Di Stefano Blown Away by Bobby Lennox
"I admired Lennox greatly"
Real Madrid legend Alfredo di Stefano holding a ball up to the sky
It's claimed that Di Stefano called Bobby Lennox the greatest Scottish player he ever came across. His praise for the Scottish striker certainly was of the highest order. He once said:
“The Scotsman who gave me the most trouble was Bobby Lennox of Celtic. My testimonial at the Bernabeu was against Celtic as, of course, they were the champions of Europe in 1967. And although I remember the Bernabeu rising to Jimmy Johnstone, I admired Lennox greatly.”
Although it was a testimonial, it sounds as though the game was pretty lively. Taking place in the summer of '67, just after their European triumph, Celtic came away with a 1-0 win.
There were two red cards as Bertie Auld was sent off with Amancio of Real Madrid after exchanging punches. But the game was enjoyed in good spirits by the crowd anyway, with Spanish support shouting ‘Ole!’ whenever Jimmy Johnstone was on the ball. Di Stefano played for just 20 minutes and received a standing ovation from the 120,000 fans when he left the pitch.
In the end, it was Lennox who netted the only goal of the game. After the match, local paper Marca reportedly wrote: 'May the football which Celtic play stay among us Spanish style. Amen.’
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Di Stefano wasn't the only legend of that era to greatly admire Lennox, either. Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton went as far as to say he was one of the best forwards ever, explaining: “If I’d had Lennox in my team, I could have played forever. He was one of the best strikers I have ever seen.”
Lennox, nicknamed ‘Buzz Bomb’ because of his phenomenal speed, scored goal after goal for Celtic. He is the second-highest scorer in Celtic's history, with 277 strikes in 586 games for the Hoops.
Such was his quality in attack, he also fired the team to repeated glory. He won 25 major honours in total across his career, the fourth-best tally of any British footballer in the history of the sport.
It is interesting that two of football's finest players rated Lennox so highly, and yet the Celtic man is not a name particularly familiar with the average fan of the modern era.