RaúlThe Captain of Captains
Raúl is Real Madrid’s living legend not only because he is one of the greatest footballers of all time but also because he embodies all that is good about Spanish values. When you look at his career statistics, watch him play or listen to him speak, he comes across with honesty, integrity and commitment and even as he approaches the end of his playing career, the ‘Captain of Captains’ is still the Real Madrid player capable of turning the game around. When the chips are down, it’s Raúl who is most likely to score the first goal and, by leading by example, is still cpable of taking a team of much younger players to victory. His career statistics are truly impressive. At the time of writing, he is a three-time winner of the UEFA Champions League and is the competition’s all-time leading scorer with 64 goals. Raúl is also the all-time leading scorer in official UEFA competitions with 66 goals. He has made 650 appearances for Real Madrid winning six Ligas and scoring 304, which leaves him just three goals short of Alfredo di Stefano’s record of 307. Raúl has also made 102 appearances for Spain with a tally of 44 goals. A Born Madridista?In spite of his second surname, Raúl González Blanco wasn’t born into a madridista family – his father supported Atlético de Madrid.Raúl was born on June 27 1977 into a working-class family in Colonia Marconia, a modest suburb of Madrid, and began playing football with San Cristóbal de los Ángeles del Villaverde. As his father was a big Atlético supporter, he took his son for trials at Vicente Calderon when Raúl was thirteen. The young Raúl was accepted and began playing in the Atlético youth system, winning the league twice with the Cadete team. It seemed that he had a promising career ahead of him as a ‘rojiblanco’ but in 1992, citing financial problems as the reason, the club’s president Jesús Gil, abolished Atlético de Madrid’s youth system and Raúl was snapped up by rivals Real Madrid – with hindsight probably the best and cheapest signing the club has ever made. Raúl was fifteen at the time and it didn’t take him long to stand out making his way up into Real Madrid first team squad. In his first season with Madrid Cadetes, he scored 71 goals in 33 games, and his rise through C and B teams was meteoric - he scored 16 goals with the C team, played one game for the B team and then, not surprisingly, first team coach Jorge Valdano decided it was time for him to make his debut with the first team. First Team DebutRaúl made his first team debut on October 29 1994 at the age of seventeen years and four momths making him the youngest player ever to play for Real Madrid. His first game was at La Romareda against Zaragoza – Madrid lost 3-2 and Raul didn’t score, although he did put the ball through to Amavisca for one of the goals.However, a week later in the Madrid derby against his old club Atletico, Raúl put in his first great performance – he scored his first Liga goal, served an assist for another and provoked a penalty. A new hero had arrived at Bernabéu. These were times of need – Emilio Butragueño, Real Madrid's star for the previous decade, was approaching the end of his playing career and after having had their noses rubbed in the dirt for the four previous seasons by Barcelona’s Dream Team, Real Madrid needed a new leader. At the tender age of seventeen, Raul brought hope to Real Madrid and a much-needed generational change. In his first season,
he scored 9 goals in 33 appearances
and, although still too young to lead the team, it's no coincidence that in 1995 Real Madrid won their first Liga of
the nineties after Raúl’s first season on the first team.
The Birth of a LeaderRaúl was even more impressive in his second season with the first team. He scored 19 goals and there were calls in many quarters for Spain national team coach Javier Clemente to include Raúl in the squad for Euro 96 in England. However, Clemente decided that Raúl , who was still only 18, was too young but many fans speculated that such a talented player wasn’t wanted by a national coach, who was much more interested in dull defensive football. Raúl finally made his international debut in October 1996 against the Czech Republic.The 1996-97 season was a great one for both Raul and Real Madrid – the young madridista scored 21 goals helping his team to win the Liga again. What's more the following season Real Madrid won their seventh Champions League title and Raúl, still only twenty, was reaching footballing maturity. In 1998-99 with 24 goals he was the Pichichi, the Liga’s top goalscorer, an achievement he repeated in 2001-03 with 25 goals, in a season which had the added satisfaction of yet another Liga title. As he reached his mid-twenties it was clear that Raúl was not only an extremely talented footballer and prolific goalscorer but also a natural leader - as Spanish national coach Luis Aragones once said playing with Raúl is like having a 'blood donor' on your team. Raúl is a charismatic player, whose football works best when he breaks through from the second line of attack. He’s got that goalscoring instinct that marks out a truly exceptional forward and whilst his most lethal weapon is his great left foot, he's also got a good eye for the ball, which makes him very effective with his head in set pieces and corners. He's also a great team player and is deceptively strong and also very intelligent. This latter quality that allows him to read the game very accurately and despite being a born winner, he uses his emotional intelligence to keep his team-mates' spirits up when the going gets tough. Finally, he's got a great sense of sportsmanship and, throughout the whole of his career, has never been sent off and has received very few yellow cards. In 2003, all these qualities made Raúl the ideal choice to take over the captaincy of Real Madrid when veteran captain Fernando Hierro stepped down. Difficult YearsRaúl’s captaincy coincided with a difficult period for Real Madrid, and the new captain's loss of form resulted in him having to bear the brunt of a great deal of criticism.The arrival of Luís Figo in 2000, Zinedine Zidane in 2001, Ronaldo in 2002 and David Beckham in 2003, collectively known as Los Galácticos, brought a lot of glamour to Real Madrid but only limited success on the field. The star-studded team won the Liga in 2002-03 but when Raúl took over the captaincy the project was beginning to fall apart. The new captain was forced to play a more workmanlike role in midfield, and this certainly didn’t benefit Raúl’s game. His goal tally reduced considerably, quite simply because he was playing out of position and not getting the chances! However, in the midst of so much glam and glitz, Raul kept his head, and as one of the few homegrown players, he maintained the core values of professional sport and led by example. In my opinion, Real Madrid were very fortunate to have Raúl Gonzalez Blanco as captain throughout those years. It’s also significant that the Galacticos project really began to fall apart after Raul suffered an injury during a Barcelona-Madrid Clásico that kept him away from the game for five months. Return to FormThe return from injury and the arrival of no-nonsense coach Fabio Capello for the 2006-07 season heralded a return to form for Raúl, which continued throughout 2007-08 seasons. In Ruud Van Nistelrooy, he has found the ideal strike partner and the last two seasons have brought two consecutive Liga titles back to the Bernabeu.However, all has been far from perfect. Raul was dropped from the Spain national team shortly before the Euro 2008 and the resulting national debate, although no fault of his own, has not been good for his reputation. Furthermore, in 2008-09, it seems that Real Madrid’s winning streak has come to an end and to call the atmosphere at the Bernabéu tense would be an understatement. Raul continues leading by example but, with the exception of Iker Casillas, the rest of the Real Madrid team don’t deserve a leader of such stature. As there will be a lot of mudslinging and finger pointing before the start of the 2009-10 season, perhaps it's time for Raúl should move on. He has often stated that he would never play for any other team apart from Real Madrid in Spain but he could easily find a place in a top level team in one of the other major European leagues. He would gain experience in other footballing cultures, avoid gradually losing form in front of his adoring public – remember most football fans’ memories are sadly short – and would also prepare himself for a future in coaching. In terms of leadership qualities, reputation and knowledge, he is ideally suited to the job, and it would be great to see the Bernabéu on its feet once again to applaud the ‘Captain of Captains’ now converted into the ‘Coach of Coaches’. Raúl Doing What He Does Best
Trophies as a player
Liga: 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008 Raúl Shirts - Click on LinksA reflection of Raúl's loss of prestige is that there's a much more limited choice of Raúl shirts available on the Internet. Although his Real Madrid shirt is readily available, his Spain Number 7 shirt has become the property of David Villa.
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