Soccer in Sun and Shadow

Goal by Puskás

It was 1961. Real Madrid was playing at home against Atlético of Madrid.

No sooner had the match begun than Ferenc Puskás scored a double goal, just as Zizinho had in the 1950 World Cup. The Hungarian striker for Real Madrid executed a free kick at the edge of the box and the ball went in. But as Puskás celebrated with his arms in the air, the referee went up to him. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, “but I didn’t whistle.”

So Puskás shot again. He kicked with his left foot, as before, and the ball traveled exactly the same path: like a cannonball over the same heads of the same players in the wall and, just like the goal that had been disallowed, it landed in the upper left corner of the net tended by Madinabeytia, who leaped just as before and, as before, was unable even to graze it.