Raul Gonzalez Biography

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Raúl González Blanco (born 27 June 1977 in Madrid, Spain), known simply as Raúl, is a Spanish footballer who plays as a striker. He currently plays for German club Schalke 04, in the Bundesliga. Raul has spent most of his career playing for Spanish club Real Madrid until 2010 and is the club’s all-time top goalscorer. Raúl is a three-time winner of the UEFA Champions League and has long been the competition’s all-time leading goal scorer. He left Real Madrid on the 25th July 2010, having scored 323 goals in 740 appearances. He is also the all-time top goalscorer for the Spanish national side.

Raul Gonzalez

Full name: Raúl González Blanco
Date of birth: 27 June 1977
Place of birth: Madrid, Spain
Height: 1.82 m
Playing position: Striker
Club Career: San Cristóbal de los Ángeles / Atlético Madrid / Real Madrid (Youth career) / 1994–2010 – Real Madrid – 550 – (228) / Schalke 04

Real Madrid: Although he started out with cross-town rivals Atlético Madrid, he began the 1994-95 season in Madrid’s C-team, but was promoted…

…to first team status by coach Jorge Valdano after impressing with sixteen goals in nine games. He became the youngest player (seventeen years and four months) ever to play for the senior side, scoring in his second senior game against derby rivals Atlético Madrid. In all, Raúl registered nine goals in 28 appearances to help Real Madrid win the 1994-95 league championship in his first season. Over the next eight seasons, he won several honours, including another three La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues. For most of this time, Raúl struck up a prolific scoring partnership with Fernando Morientes (and later, Ronaldo). 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 has never won the Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup).

The club confirmed on 25th July 2010 that Raúl would be leaving the club, a day after Guti confirmed he too would be leaving the club after 25 years.

International career: Raúl began his rise in the international scene with the youth teams and was chosen to represent Spain at the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship, scoring 2 goals. He has scored a national record 44 goals in 102 caps for Spain. He is also second in terms of caps won for Spain, with 102. The former captain has made more international appearances for Spain than any other outfield player. Raúl was not chosen for Euro 1996 and had to wait until October 1996 to earn his first senior cap against the Czech Republic. He participated in three World Cups from 1998 to 2006, along with Euro 2000 and Euro 2004, scoring at least one goal in each of the three World Cup competitions. Raúl took over the team captaincy following the retirement of Fernando Hierro in 2002, but has not been chosen for the national team since September 2006, following a shock 3-2 defeat against Northern Ireland in Belfast (a game in which Raúl hit the post late on). In addition, he was not selected for the UEFA Euro 2008 final tournament (which Spain eventually won) as Luis Aragonés preferred Fernando Torres and David Villa. His clubmate and goalkeeper Iker Casillas succeeded him as captain.

Of his 44 international goals, Raúl scored 25 goals in competitive games, 6 of which were in the finals of major tournaments. In a Euro 2000 qualifier, on 27 March 1999, Raúl scored one of only two international hat-tricks during Spain’s 9-0 rout of Austria. Interestingly, another international hat-trick was scored 4 days later, against San Marino during the same qualifying tournament.