Raul Gonzalez Blanco born on June 27, 1977 in Madrid (Spain) is a footballer currently playing for German club Schalke 04, but who will always be associated with the name of Real Madrid, the Spanish club for which he has played in the first team from 1994 until the summer of 2010.

Although he is a legend of Real Madrid, Raul represents a product of Atletico Madrid’s youth system, Real’s city rivals. In 1992 the Spanish striker joined Real’s youth team and two years later coach Jorge Valdano introduced him to the starting lineup at the age of only 17. Raul impressed from his first appearances and soon earned himself a constant place in the first 11. On the club level, his professional career has been very productive: with Real Madrid he won the Primera Division six times, the national Supercup four times, but most importantly, he is one of the few players who have succeeded in winning the UEFA Champions League on three different occasions (1997–98, 1999–00, 2001–02). In addition to this, Raul is the European competition’s all-time leading goal scorer and he has also managed to break the long-standing record of Alfredo di Stefano for Real Madrid, by scoring 323 goals during his 16 years at the club.

Raul’s consistent scoring at the club level gave him a major role in the national team during three World Cups from 1998 to 2006, along with Euro 2000 and Euro 2004, but even though he has scored a national record of 44 goals in 102 appearances for Spain, the team did not manage any important achievements in that period.

In July 2010 Raul considered there was no longer a place for him in Real’s team and so decided to accept the offer from Bundesliga club Schalke 04, but the beginning of the 2010/2011 season has not been successful for the German team, despite the contribution of a versatile striker with the skills and instinct in front of goal as Raul Gonzalez Blanco.

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