madrid's contribution to united's recovery after munich

by Lord Hades Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:01 am

In the year 1958, Real Madrid C.F.were crowned champions of Europe. But Madrid won a lot more that year, something which is precious and yet invaluable – Respect. Madrid poured out goodwill like none could imagine in today’s mad and self- centred world. Real asked for the trophy in 1958 to be awarded to Manchester United after the Munich disaster. This however, was understandably refused by the Old Trafford club. Madrid dedicated the trophy to Manchester United and more to the Busby Babes. Madrid then offered holidays in Spain to all the players in a bid to help them recover from the mental trauma. To help United tide over their financial woes, Bernabeau even agreed to play friendlies with them, at half their rate. Real fielded strong sides, so as to attract maximum crowds, and also helped United in developingby playing against strong European opposition. The Blancos were at their philanthropic best, as they even offered United the legendary Puskas, but United couldn’t sign him due to some absurd FA ruling against non-English speaking players. Di Stefano was also offered for a season- long loan (probably) but United had to turn down the gesture, as they weren’t in a position to afford his wages. The level of respect was enormous between the two clubs. It’s seemingly hard to fathom such deep rooted sense of responsibility for a rival club in the present dayscenario, and it’s surreal.