Real legend Di Stefano hospitalized with heart problem

Real Madrid’s iconic former striker Alfredo di Stefano has been hospitalized again because of a heart problem, the Spanish club said Saturday.

The 84-year-old was taken to Madrid’s Sanitas-La Moraleja Hospital on Friday “after suffering a low to moderate cardiorespiratory descompensation,” it said in a statement posted on its website.

“The medical staff decided to keep him at the hospital for optimum monitoring, given his history,” the club added.

Di Stefano, who is Real’s honorary president, spent nine days in the hospital this month after doctors discovered a respiratory infection during a checkup.

He was allowed to leave the hospital but received out-patient treatment.

A two-time European Player of the Year, the Argentine-born Di Stefano played for Real from 1953 to 1963, scoring 418 goals in 510 games.

He became a Spanish citizen in 1956 and was named best player in Real Madrid’s history in an online poll taken by the club in 2008.