FERENC PUSKAS DIES AT 79



Hats off to him. Rest in peace.

People of this generation argues and claims that Raul, Shevchenko, Henry, Van Nistelrooy, Ronaldo and so on and so forth to be among the best strikers in football history. Right, you can argue all you want. Well, the problem is they never know of a person who has such perfect goal/match ratio that they thought such human never exists! I bet you when you see his records, you will think no striker of our generation is even half of his ability. His record is so perfect that I thought it is a myth!

Looking at his records, I have nothing to say but great respect. He, like di Stefano are two forgotten legends in football. People only know Pele, Maradona, Beckenbauer, Platini and Cruyff. People don't remember di Stefano and Puskas. While after I look at his records, my mouth is extremely wide open in awe!

Let me show you what I mean.

1939-1956 Kispest AC/Honvéd 357 goals in 354 appearances
12-29 years old
Which means 100.847% efficiency

1956-1967 Real Madrid CF 512 goals in 528 appearances
29-40 years old
Which means 96.970% efficiency

1949-1956 Hungary 84 goals in 85 apperances
22-29 years old
Which means 98.824% efficiency

1961-1962 Spain 0 goal in 4 appearances
34-35 years old
Which means 0% efficiency

Overall efficiency?

953 goals in 971 appearances!

From the age of 12 until 40 years old, this guy has the efficiency of 98.146%!

That is 0.981 goal per match!

Can you even imagine any footballer in the history of the game coming close to his efficiency? Probably nobody ever in the history of mankind will ever surpass it! Can you imagine a footballer playing from age 12 to 40 with that kind of consistency? How can he still maintain his speed and ability until 40 years old? Apart from skills, you need all the luck you can get to be this consistent. Will it ever happen again? I will say VERY HARDLY EVER AGAIN!

This site will go into 5 days of mourning for what I will call him the
MOST EFFICIENT STRIKER IN THE HISTORY OF FOOTBALL!

Honours:

Player

Hungary
Olympic Champions: 1
1952

Dr. Gerõ Cup Winners: 1
1948/53

Honvéd
Hungarian League: 5
1949-50, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955

Real Madrid
Spanish Championship: 5
1960/61, 1961/62, 1962/63, 1963/64, 1964/65

Pichichi Trophy Winner: 4
1959/60, 1960/61, 1962/63, 1963/64

European Cup: 3
1958/59, 1959/60, 1965/66

Intercontinental Cup: 1
1960

Copa del Generalísimo: 1
1961/62

Manager

South Melbourne Hellas
Australian Champions: 1
1990/91



FAREWELL LEGEND!

Article taken from SkySports Football
By Alex Livie - Created on 17 Nov 2006

Duo pay tribute to Puskas

Sir Alex Ferguson has paid a glowing tribute to Ferenc Puskas, while Arsene Wenger has no doubts that the Hungarian legend would have flourished in the modern game.

Former Honved and Real Madrid star Puskas died on Friday following a long battle against illness at the age of 79.

Puskas announced himself on the British stage when helping Hungary beat England at Wembley in 1953 and he went on to prove himself as one of the world's greatest ever players.

Wenger feels it is difficult to compare players from different eras, but is of the opinion that the greats could flourish in any generation.

"As a player he was absolutely fantastic not only from what I saw - very little - but what people told me," the Arsenal boss said of 'The Galloping Major'

"I saw a little bit of him at Real Madrid because I had a black and white television - but people told me he was amazing.

"I do not like to compare players from different times - but I always say the best from their generation would have adapted and would still be the best today."

Puskas scored 83 goals in 84 games for the Magyars and Ferguson has fond memories of the Hungarian.

"I was lucky to see Puskas play quite a few times," said Ferguson. "I have many memories of him. I was at the European Cup final in 1960 but I also saw him score the only goal against Rangers at Ibrox, before he got a hat-trick against them when Real scored six in the second leg.

"In his day he was a special player without question, part of that great period for Hungarian football. How they did not win the World Cup in 1954 is beyond me."

"It is sad news. But when a great player like that passes, you can at least reflect on what a great player he was and the great games he played in."

A famous incident from Hungary's win over England in 1953 saw Puskas dump the great Billy Wright on the floor with a fabulous drag-back and it sits prominently in Ferguson's memory banks.

"There was one point when Puskas cut back inside Billy Wright and took him so far out of the game he had to pay 'three and six' to get back into the ground," he laughed.

"He was a marvellous player in a fantastic team. The following month they went to Scotland and beat them as well."

"The European Cup final at Hampden was amazing. He scored four then but he also got three against Benfica in 1962 when Real Madrid lost.

"Can you imagine scoring a hat-trick in a European Cup final and not winning? That is amazing."