Alfredo Di Stéfano

We must always strive to improve, little by little.

Alfredo Di Stéfano (July 4, 1926 – July 7, 2014) was an Argentine footballer.

Quotes

• Ball is made of leather, leather comes from cows, cows eat grass, and there is where the ball must be.
  • The Wit and Wisdom of Alfredo Di Stéfano Kindle Location 71.

• Finals are not to be played; they are to be won.
  • The Wit and Wisdom of Alfredo Di Stéfano Kindle Location 94.

• Failure is a necessary part of success.
  • The Wit and Wisdom of Alfredo Di Stéfano Kindle Location 98.

• I was a forward, and one of the obligations of a forward is to score goals.
  • The Wit and Wisdom of Alfredo Di Stéfano Kindle Location 192.

The Guardian interview (2008)

Quotes of Di Stéfano from "Training, sweating and learning" by Marcela Mora y Araujo, in The Guardian (10 June 2008).

• It has changed a bit, of course. The speed and all that. But let me tell you something: in the olden times, let's say the year, I don't know, in the Sixties for instance, we would eat a plate of spaghetti and run out onto the pitch. Then people started saying 'they're too full', meaning you'd get bloated like a pig if you ate spaghetti. But this shows you those guys were clever because nowadays all the medical experts recommend pasta for athletes and footballers because you digest it slowly.

• We must always strive to improve, little by little.

• Do you know how many rules there are in football? … There are 17 rules. That's it. Everyone talks about football and nobody remembers this simple fact.

• I always enjoyed training, sweating and learning

• I've always been a team player, that's all. One for all and all for one.

• People nowadays are obsessed with golden awards, about who is the best — when we know in reality the one with more money wins.

Misattributed

• I always wanted to have the ball for myself; she was my girlfriend.
  • Attributed in The Wit and Wisdom of Alfredo Di Stéfano Kindle Location 194, this is actually a quote of José Manuel Moreno, as quoted in "Training, sweating and learning" by Marcela Mora y Araujo, in The Guardian (10 June 2008).