It was the equivalent of Barcelona loaning Lionel Messi to Manchester United.

With a club, city and country in mourning as they strained to digest the scale of the loss on a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem airport, one of Real Madrid’s first responses to the tragedy was to offer to loan Alfredo di Stefano to United for the remainder of the 1957/58 season.

Arguably the greatest footballer in the world at that time, Di Stefano had already led Real to back-to-back European Cup triumphs in the previous two seasons and was on course to make it a hat-trick and yet here were Madrid ready to relinquish the services of the fabled Argentine in a show of remarkable solidarity with their friends in Manchester.

There were many acts of great kindness in the aftermath of a tragedy that claimed the lives of eight Busby Babes and 15 more aboard British European Airways Flight 609 60 years ago today. But the efforts to which Real went to help United rebuild remains one of the most uplifting if still little known stories that emanated from that dark February day in 1958 and a potent symbol for the unifying power of football.