Photo: Daily Star Archive

Indisputably one of the best left-footed players in the history of the game, Ferenc Puskas best rode the Hungarian football scene throughout a golden period in the early 1950s like a colossus.
Puskas was born in 1927 in Budapest and embarked on his football career at an early age, playing for his father's club, Kispest Budapest. Puskas made his international debut at the age of 18 against Austria. The fixture was Hungary's first since the Second World War and witnessed the birth of an unparalleled career in their national colours.
An unlikely footballer in many respects, Puskas was small and overweight, not particularly strong in the air and was exclusively left-footed. But, his gifts were undeniable, as the statistics show. In 84 international appearances, Puskas scored 83 goals -- a strike rate unmatched in international football.
Puskas' home club Kispest became an army team in 1948 and were renamed Honved. Thus the star striker earned the sobriquet of the 'Galloping Major', in recognition of his army rank.
Hungary were the dominant national team of the early 1950s. In 1952, Puskas captained his country to Olympic gold in Helsinki and the 'Magical Magyars' arrived at the 1954 FIFA World Cup, Switzerland undefeated in four years.
Victory beckoned at the 1954 World Cup after Puskas and his devastating teammates Boszik, Czibor, Kocsis and Hidegkuti scored 17 goals in their first two pool games.
They disposed of Brazil 4-2 in the quarterfinals, swept aside Uruguay by the same score in the semifinals, although Puskas missed both those games with an ankle injury, and then only had to beat West Germany again (Hungary beat West Germany 8-3 in the group round) to win the Cup.
Puskas opened the scoring and Czibor made it 2-0 inside eight minutes. But then three strikes by the Germans, inspired by captain Fritz Walter and winger Rahn, snatched the trophy away from them 3-2, thereby registering their first defeat in four years.
After the unsuccessful Hungarian uprising in 1956 the Galloping Major joined Real Madrid, and after two years in the country was granted Spanish nationality. His new nationality gave him a chance to prolong his international career and he played four times for Spain.
On a domestic level he had more success, winning six Spanish championships in eleven years and one European Cup in 1960 alongside the equally revered Alfredo Di Stefano.
Puskas Hungarian's record as a coach was less brilliant, although he did take Greek club Panathinaikos to the 1971 European Cup final, the Greeks becoming the first victims (2-0) of the wonderful Ajax side of that era.
The legendary footballer was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2000 and after a bout of pneumonia, Puskas died in a Budapest hospital on November 17, 2006 at the age of 79. Millions of people thronged the streets of Budapest to say one last goodbye to one of their greatest heroes.