PUSKAS, GENTO & DI STEFANO
They’re adored by Eredivisie clubs and have been adopted by Premier League giants. And now you can help prevent injuries like the professionals too…
“SCORING GOALS IS LIKE MAKING LOVE,” DI STEFANO SAID. “EVERYONE CAN DO IT, BUT NO ONE DOES IT BETTER THAN ME”
“Scoring goals is just like making love,” Alfredo Di Stefano once claimed. “Everyone can do it, but nobody does it like me.”
Some supporters barely noticed that he had team- mates. Real Madrid were La Saeta
Rubia’s ( the Blond Arrow’s) backing band and he was football’s Elvis Presley: an effortless, magnetic talisman of the ’ 50s. But in 1958, Los Blancos brought in a second superstar. Ferenc Puskas was 31 and already Hungary’s pre- eminent footballer before revolution broke out in 1956. Banned for two years for defecting to the West, the ‘ Galloping Major’ was here to do it all again.
Madrid became a new home for these overseas icons to showcase their talents – French great Raymond Kopa also joined – as the club adopted a globetrotters- style model somewhat at odds with Spain’s dictatorship under General Franco. It was a multinational, star- studded identity that Los Blancos would return to on the cusp of a new millennium.
Puskas always knew this was Di Stefano’s castle: in the final game of his first La Liga season, with both forwards level on goals, he rounded the Sevilla goalkeeper and passed to his mate, rather than rolling the ball into an empty net. Paco Gento made the deadly duo a triumphant trio from his outside- left position, wielding natural flair and express pace. He revelled in the assist.
The three fired Real Madrid to the 1959 European Cup – coach Luis Carniglia paying for his non- selection of Puskas with his job, despite beating Reims 2- 0 – before retaining it in 1960 with a 7- 3 hammering of Eintracht Frankfurt. Puskas blasted four, Di Stefano the other three. A young Alex Ferguson watched on agog from the Hampden Park stands at “the best team I’d ever seen”.
Not all dynasties last forever, though. The five- times champions finally surrendered their crown the following year, and while Di Stefano, Gento and Puskas all started the 1962 and 1964 European Cup Final defeats – Puskas scored a first- half hat- trick in the former – the trio’s time at the top was over.
Di Stefano takes the spotlight as Madrid’s heart and soul, but his team- mates were just as spectacular. In 1966, Los Blancos reached another European Cup final, helped by Puskas’ five goals en route. Then 39, he didn’t make the starting XI. Gento, however, captained Madrid to victory against Partizan. He remains the only player to win six European Cups.
When Max Kramer fell off his bike and broke his shoulder 11 years ago, little did he know how it would change his life for the better. When he realised that none of the compression clothing he could find on the market was helping his recovery, he decided to adopt the old adage – if you want a job doing well, do it yourself.
In fact, Kramer’s own compression shirts were so successful that just two years later he was being approached by Eredivisie club Nijmegen. Concerned about the number of groin and hamstring injuries they were getting, the Dutch side asked him to develop some shorts which could help them keep their players fit and firing.
So he did. Within a year, every Eredivisie club were using Knap’man’s popular 45 per cent compression variant, and today, half of all Premier League clubs trust their products – the first and only scientifically proven compression shorts in the world, designed to both prevent and aid in the healing of injuries without limiting movement.
In general, it’s said that between four and 19 per cent of footballers suffer from groin injuries, which can lead to frustratingly long spells on the sidelines. So, after successfully introducing their technology to English football’s top clubs, Knap’man are now on a mission to help grassroots players across the nation.
The results speak for themselves...
DR BRYAN ENGLISH HEAD OF MEDICINE, LEICESTER CITY “I have seen many compression garments in my 20 years working in elite sport, but Knap’man are the best products I have come across. They look good, feel good and also
provide more compression than most other products. The company is very young and enthusiastic, and I have been really impressed with everything that they have to offer”
DR ADAM WEIR SPORTS DOCTOR “At the Erasmus MC ( Centre for Groin Injuries), I see people with groin- related complaints daily. I always recommend Knap’man compression shorts to them”