As Argentina prepares for their semi-final march, one of their football greats who they eventually lost to Spain is dead.
Alfredo Di Stefano.
The 88-year-old suffered a heart attack on Saturday and had been in an induced coma in Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital.
Real Madrid confirmed the news, saying Di Stefano, their honorary president, died at 17:15 CET (16:15 BST).
"It's a very sad day," Real forward and World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo said on his Twitter feed in one of an avalanche of tributes that poured in after the news broke. "For me, for all the Madridistas, for the world of football."
Ronaldo's predecessor as World Player, Lionel Messi, said on Facebook: "The world lost a legend today, Don Alfredo Di Stefano. An amazing man on and off the field."
Argentina-born Di Stefano, who helped transform Real into one of the world's leading teams in the 1950s and 60s, was admitted to intensive care on Saturday.
He had suffered an 18-minute respiratory arrest, the emergency services said.
"He was the most complete player I’ve ever seen," FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on the website of soccer's world governing body (www.fifa.com). "He was also my favourite player.
"I was following him very closely when he was playing for the great Real Madrid team and I was a young sports reporter. Later I had the privilege to meet him ... and we became good friends in football. I will always remember him."
BLOND ARROW
Known as 'La Saeta Rubia' (blond arrow), Di Stefano joined Real in 1953 and became a naturalised Spaniard three years later.
He helped the club win five successive European Cups between 1956-60 and scored in each of the finals. His death comes just weeks after Real won their 10th European crown.
Di Stefano's international career was less spectacular and he made a handful of appearances for Argentina and later Colombia, while he was playing club football there, before netting 23 goals in 31 games for Spain.
He had a number of health problems in recent years and was fitted with a pacemaker in 2005 after heart surgery.
"A legendary player, a myth," Spanish state secretary for sport Miguel Cardenal said in a statement. "There was nobody who stood comparison. He laid the foundations of a team that was named the best of the 20th century and that this year won the European Champions League. "The legacy he left in Real Madrid's DNA was of fighting to the end and never giving up. Don Alfredo was the greatest."
Charlton once wrote about the first time he saw Di Stéfano play, in 1957.
“Who is this man?” Charlton wrote, as quoted by The Guardian in its obituary on Monday. “He takes the ball from the goalkeeper, he tells the full backs what to do; wherever he is on the field he is in position to take the ball, you can see his influence on everything that is happening.”
He went on: “I had never seen such a complete footballer,” adding: “It was as though he had set up his own command center at the heart of the game. He was as strong as he was subtle. You just could not keep your eyes off him.”
Real president Florentino Perez announced that, according to the wishes of Di Stefano's family, the body would lie in repose at the club's Bernabeu stadium on Tuesday.
"Today is a day that we never thought could come, a day of absolute sadness for the Madrid family and the world of football," Perez told a news conference.
"The greatest Real Madrid player and the best of all time has left us," added the construction magnate.
"His legend will last forever. Alfredo Di Stefano changed the history of this club. He is a myth and he is Real Madrid."
Why should this happen when the world cup is still on.
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