Video: Ferenc Puskás

Filed in archive Video on November 18, 2006

The great Ferenc Puskás died yesterday, aged 79. He was all left foot, overweight, and a bit of a drinker but that didn't stop him destroying teams singlehandedly (and singlefootedly). My favourite thing about Puskás is that some considered him washed up in the mid '50s. No Italian team would take him, so he settled for Real Madrid and proved the doubters wrong. 500 goals and 3 European Cups wrong.

Here's nine minutes of the man in action.

By sheer chance I was in Budapest in 2001 when they renamed the Népstadion the Puskás Ferenc-stadion in his honour, and he toured the stadium in a car. I didn't fully appreciate the man's stature back then, but a quick look at his career stats says it all. Take a deep breath before you look at these numbers:

Honved: 354 apps 357 goals

Real Madrdid: 528 apps 512 goals

Hungary: 85 apps 84 goals

Could be worse.