Raúl González - the Alive Legend of Real Madrid

Name: Raúl González Blanco

Club: Schalke 04

Position: Striker

Nationality: Spain

Date of Birth: 27 June 1977

Height: 178 cm

Awards: a three-time UEFA Club Football Best Forward Award winner and a two-time Champions League Golden Boot winner

Strengths: Extremely clever, Raul's intelligence sees him get away from his marker and create space well. His finishing touch in the box is second to none.

Weaknesses: Lacks pace and strength, and age is catching up with him to make these issues even more apparent.

Club Career

Raúl is a product of Atletico Madrid’s youth system but was picked up by Real Madrid in 1992/93.  Jorge Valdano tabbed Raúl for first team duty when he was only 17, thus becoming the youngest player ever to wear a Real Madrid shirt.

1994-2010

The Real Madrid captain has scored over 190 goals in close to 500 games in 14 seasons in La Liga, numbers that don’t just highlight his tremendous talent, but also establish him as one of the best Spanish players ever to play the game. His acute goal-scoring instinct has earned him the Pichichi Trophy in 1999 (25 goals in 37 games) and 2001 (24 goals in 36 games).

Raúl was a key player in Real Madrid's last six big titles, three European Championships (1998, 2000 and 2002) and three National Championships (1999, 2001 and 2003). Raúl took over the captaincy of Real Madrid when Fernando Hierro was transferred in 2003, a responsibility he held until leaving the club in 2010. Unusually for such a successful and long-serving player, and despite appearing in two finals, 2002 (in which he scored) and 2004, Raúl never lifted the Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup).

Raúl and fellow long-serving teammate Iker Casillas were both awarded a 'contract for life' in 2008 – the terms of which stipulate that it will be renewed annually for as long as they play 30 games per season.[13] On 23 September 2009, Raúl equaled former veteran and legend Manolo Sanchís' league appearance record for Real Madrid, and is second in La Liga behind Andoni Zubizarreta who played 622 games.

Ever since, he has been under heavy criticism by the media and part of the supporters because of his poor performances .  Real Madrid struggled to win a title in Spain and in European Championships, with no success in either of them.

Having spent the rest of the 09/10 season recovering from that injury, At the age of 33, he chose to continue his career in. Although new coach Jose Mourinho wanted Raúl to continue, Raúl did not want to spend another season as third or fourth choice striker.

He left Real Madrid on 25 July 2010, having scored 323 goals in 741 appearances. He is a true Madrid legend.

2010-Present

Raúl signed a two-year contract with FC Schalke 04 on 28 July 2010.

After a quiet start he has rediscovered his goal scoring form in the Bundesliga with a brace against St. Pauli in November 2010 in a 3–0 win, and later he scored his first hat-trick for the club in a 4–0 win over Werder Bremen.