"He preserves the balance and dictates the tempo in the same way. His rewards are said to be fabulous."

Unstoppable tidal wave

With Di Stefano to the fore, Madrid roared into a two-goal lead within the opening 33 minutes thanks to goals from Kopa and Rial to extend its advantage to 5-1 on aggregate.

Having played three league games in six days in the lead up to the tie, United soon grew frustrated despite goals from Taylor and Bobby Charlton leveling the score on the day.

Constant fouling and a number of offenses left referee Leo Horn claiming after the match that "there must have been 50 or 60 infringements."

"The game itself was not a great spectacle," Clare recalled.

"Madrid feigned injury, wasted time whenever they could, kicked the ball away into the crowd when United were awarded free-kicks.

"It was really frustrating as back then, you never ever saw those kind of things happen."

Real's style certainly left its impact, with Duncan Edwards telling the media the experience was "damn rough," while United captain Roger Byrne claimed the Spaniards "lacked sportsmanship."

A raucous Old Trafford crowd booed the visiting players mercilessly at the final outcome, leading Daily Express journalist Desmond Hackett to write how he had "never felt so ashamed of an English soccer crowd in all my life."

Hackett was left mesmerized by Real and Di Stefano in particular, writing how "we were left without words to use for that odd man out among the continentals, Alfredo Di Stefano from the Argentine."

What had started as a trickle of optimism had been left submerged by the unstoppable tidal wave of Real's attacking prowess.

Breaking the stranglehold

While Real would go on to win the nascent competition for the second year in a row, defeating Fiorentina of Italy in the final, United finished the season as English league champions before losing to Aston Villa in the FA Cup final in front of nearly 100,000 at Wembley.

Real went on to win the first five editions of the competition, but United's fortunes were left ruined among the wreckage of the 1958 Munich Air Disaster.

Of the 11 players which lined up against Real, six perished in the accident on February 6 when the plane carrying players, staff, journalists and supporters crashed in a blizzard while trying to take off at the third attempt from Munich airport.

Byrne, Eddie Colman, Edwards, Pegg, Taylor and Liam Whelan all lost their lives alongside fellow teammates Mark Jones and Geoff Bent.

In all, 23 of the 44 passengers lost their lives, while several players and manager Busby suffered physical and mental trauma.

It would be 10 years until United met Real again, with just two players in Charlton and Bill Foulkes, both Munich survivors, remaining from the team which had lost out in the previous meeting.

On that occasion, inspired by the mercurial talent of George Best, United triumphed, winning 1-0 at home before securing a 3-3 draw in Madrid.