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.

New Star as Goalkeeper

Now, Arsenal and Man Utd are looking for the new goalkeeper as their present ones, Van der Sar & Manuel Almunia, will be retired sooner.  And here I've the brand new goalkeeper from Soccer Club Riverball, Finnland to recommend. (When I saw the video and considered his soccer skill, I wondered myself whether his positioning is goalkeeper or midfield!)

Abramovich ready to turn to Hiddink

ESPNsoccernet understands Roman Abramovich is lining up Turkey coach Guus Hiddink to replace Carlo Ancelotti in the Chelsea hotseat, should the Italian fail to deliver the Champions League this season.

Ancelotti has endured a torrid few months at Stamford Bridge, overseeing the Blues' elimination from the Carling Cup, FA Cup and Premier League title race.

Pressure is mounting on the former AC Milan boss, despite the fact he delivered the club their first ever Double last season, and it is thought that winning the European Cup at Wembley in May is the only thing that will save him from the sack.

Should Ancelotti not guide the Blues to Champions League glory, Abramovich is ready to wield the axe and re-appoint Dutchman Hiddink, who won the FA Cup with Chelsea during a successful three-month spell with the club as caretaker manager in 2009.

An ESPNsoccernet source confirmed: "If Abramovich does decide to dispense with Ancelotti then the manager he will try for first will be Hiddink."

The Champions League has continued to prove elusive for Abramovich and it appears Ancelotti is faced with a simple ultimatum: deliver the Russian billionaire his holy grail or find a new job.

But if Chelsea continue to flounder in the league despite their owner investing a cool £75 million in Fernando Torres and David Luiz, the big question is whether he can gamble on winning the Champions League to qualify again for it next season.

He may be tempted to act now to stop the rot, as chances are running out for the under-fire Ancelotti, and it would be cost-effective to buy Hiddink out of the remainder of his contract with Turkey, which runs out next summer.

source: ESPN (soccernet.com)

Gangers: Messi vs. Zidane

Funny video with Messi vs Zidane gang!

Brazil Ronaldo Retires At The Age Of 34

Ronaldo has confirmed that he will announce his retirement on Monday, calling time on a rich and unforgettable career in football. 

The legendary striker, currently with Corinthians, has cited injury and fitness concerns as the reason for his bowing out months before his final contract was due to expire. 

"My body aches. In my head I want to continue, but this body can't take much more," Ronaldo told Fantastico online magazine. "In recent days I have cried like a baby."

The forward has spent the last two years at Corinthians after a glorious spell in Europe with PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona,Inter, Real Madrid and AC Milan.

His one season at Camp Nou is frequently cited as one of the greatest individual campaigns in footballing history, while his spells at San Siro and the Bernabeu were no less eventful.


Meanwhile Ronaldo is also widely regarded as one of Brazil's greatest ever players. He is the World Cup's all-time leading goalscorer, with 15 goals in four tournament appearances - two of which the Selecao would win.

Nonetheless, with Corinthians being eliminated from the Copa Libertadores early, and his physical condition preventing a consistent run in the Timao line-up, Ronaldo has now called it a day.

He will formally end his career at a press conference at Corinthians headquarters at 12:40pm local time.
source: Goal.com

Argentina vs Portugal 2-1Goals & Highlights

Neville retirement no laughing matter

Gary Neville's announcement that he has retired from football will not be mourned on Merseyside. It will not be met with sadness by supporters all across the country who came to greet the mention of his name with a smirk or a sneer; this was a footballer who divided opinion like few others. However, it marks the end of a great career, and one that demonstrated just what can be achieved through application and determination. It should be met with sadness.

Neville's decision was timely, certainly. This is not a retirement that induces bemusement, as Eric Cantona's did when he walked away from Old Trafford at the age of just 30. Anyone who watched Neville performance against Stoke in October, his 600th appearance for the club, would have seen a player who had become a shadow of his former self, and a liability to his team.

After an error-strewn performance he was removed at half-time by Sir Alex Ferguson. Now, in order to protect the image United fans have of him, he has removed himself from the first-team squad with less than half of the season remaining.

But an inglorious end should not mask what has been one of the great United careers, and from a man who frequented the Stretford End as a child. Of his fellow 'Fergie Fledglings', the remarkable clutch of young talent that emerged at the start of the 1990s, Neville never had the star quality of David Beckham, the innate genius of Paul Scholes or the explosive skill of Ryan Giggs. Rather, his was a career founded on other qualities: sheer professionalism, bloody-minded determination and a desire to make the absolute most of his ability.

So why the mixed feelings towards this dedicated servant of the national side? Well, for one, as United fans sung with gusto so often, "Gary Neville is a red, he hates scousers". He made no secret of the fact, once admitting: "I can't stand Liverpool, I can't stand Liverpool people, I can't stand anything to do with them." These were sentiments that obviously appealed to his adoring Mancunian public.

Neville's feelings of antipathy for Liverpool's natives was mutual, of course. A relationship based on hatred was cemented in February 2006 when he was fined £5,000 for baiting Reds fans following a stoppage-time winner from Rio Ferdinand at Old Trafford. Neville's reaction to the FA punishment was to state, with tongue lodged in cheek, that: "being a robot, devoid of passion and spirit, is obviously the way forward for the modern-day footballer."

No one would accuse Neville of being a robot. Indeed, Carlos Tevez coined a far more colourful expression when describing his former team-mate as a "sock sucker" and a "moron" during another public dispute in January 2010. His animosity not restricted to Merseyside, Neville indulged in a spat with Manchester City, his middle-finger gesture to Tevez during a subsequent derby clash seeing his passion for Manchester United again rise to the surface.


Yes his moustache is comical, yes his father is called Neville Neville, and yes, plenty of humour has been derived from this most serious of characters. But Neville's retirement is no laughing matter. It marks the end of the career of a great one-club man, and a consummate professional who fulfilled his potential to the absolute fullest.

Would it be asking for too much for Neville to unite opinion for once, and for all to agree that he will be missed, if only just a little?

source: Tom Adam, Goal.com