Raul Gonzalez Blanco: The prince of Madrid

Raúl González Blanco

On this day, 36 years ago, an angel was born in the Madrid suburb of Marconi de San Cristóbal de los Ángeles. That angel went on to make history with Real Madrid and Spain. I’m talking here about none other than Raúl González Blanco, a gentleman both on and off the pitch; a hero for the people of Madrid, he’s widely known as “El Ángel de Madrid “.

Raúl was initially a part of Atletico Madrid‘s youth setup, which was closed down by their then chairman in 1992. Real Madrid took advantage of the situation and signed him, and the rest as they say, is history!

It took Raúl just 3 years to move into the first team since joining the youth setup of Real Madrid. He was given the opportunity to make his debut by the then Madrid manager, Jorge Valdano, on 29 October 1994, against Real Zaragoza. Before the match, Valdano went up to him and said he’d play against Zaragoza but he could be a bit nervous. Raúl’s reply was, “If you wanna win, then play me, and if you don’t wanna win, put someone else in the team.” That showed what strong character he had even as a 17-year-old kid. He became the youngest player ever to debut for Real Madrid. His first goal came against his former youth club and Real’s crosstown rivals, Atletico Madrid! Coincidentally, Raúl’s last game in a Real Madrid shirt was against Real Zaragoza.

Galacticos were signed every year; Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo (Brazilian) and Beckham arrived at the club, many canteranos were forced to leave, but one stayed firm; Raúl fought hard, and made sure he was always a key starter. He wasn’t a so called “global superstar”. He didn’t have superb pace, he didn’t have that great technical abilities; what he had was his brain, he knew to be in the right place at the right time and always scored goals. After Hierro left Madrid in 2003, Raúl took over the leadership responsibilities. He was a great leader, one who could inspire the team when everything looked dark. He finished his Real Madrid career with 323 goals for the club. He wore the iconic #7, previously worn by greats likes Amancio, Juanito and Butragueno and later, Cristiano Ronaldo, after Raúl’s departure.

When you think of Raúl at Madrid, you just can’t help but think of his partnership with El Moro (Fernando Morientes). Both complimented each other perfectly; one would play centrally (Morientes) and drag the defenders to create space for the other(Raúl) to run into and finish with ease. Their partnership is the amongst the best strike partnerships ever. And who can forget Raúl silencing Camp Nou after scoring in the Clasico? That game against Gijon in February 2009, when he broke Di Stefano’s long standing 45 year old record of the highest goalscorer ever in the club’s history. The consecutive goals in the Champions League final appearances, those chipped goals, you can just go on and on. Raúl has lots of great memories associated with Real Madrid.

Raúl was a symbol for the club, the Madridistas worshipped him. He was the Di Stefano of his era! On 25 July 2010, Real Madrid confirmed that Raúl would leave the club, he didn’t want to continue as a fourth choice striker and wanted to play regularly. It was the most emotional moment for the Madridistas in recent times. The entire Real Madrid family cried. Nobody could ever imagine Real Madrid without Raúl; it was more like “Raúl Madrid”, both made for each other. He left, but the love story wasn’t over, he publicly confessed many times that he’s a Madridista through and through.

The iconic no. 7 shirt of Raul

He joined Schalke. He’s a sort of player the fans love and Schalke fans adored him just like the Madridistas did. When Raúl left Schalke after two good seasons with the club, they decided to retire the #7, which Raúl wore, out of respect for him.

Approaching 35, Raúl decided to move out of Europe and joined Qatari side Al Sadd. He helped them win the league, scoring 9 goals in 22 appearances along the way.

He also captained Spain for four years and became Spain’s then top scorer with 44 goals and earned 102 caps. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t win any major competition with his country, but he always gave his best. He was an inspirational captain which Spain needed, but not the one they deserved! Later, he was removed from the Spain’s squad for Euro 2008 rather disrespectfully by Aragones. The (then) all time top scorer and captain definitely deserved better.

For all those young kids out there, aspiring to be a footballer, Raúl is a role model! He is one of those very few players who have never been sent off in their entire professional career. He has scored a total of 419 goals in his career. He also holds the record for most appearances and goals in the Champions League, 144 (joint with Giggs) and 71 respectively.

“Raúl is one of the best of Europe. He is Real Madrid’s spirit. He is like Matthäus for us: indispensable, and with a bad haircut.”

- Franz Beckenbauer

“For me I would say my favourite players in Europe are Raúl and Figo.”

- Zinedine Zidane

“He is a winner. He is the inheritance of Real Madrid.”

- Fabio Capello

“I hope he doesn’t like travelling, Failing that we will stop him entering the country. Real buy these big players like Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo but I think the best player in the world is Raúl.”

- Sir Alex Ferguson

“We all know what Raúl represents, not only for his team, but also for football.”

- David Trézéguet

“I once said that Raúl is like a Ferrari and now I think he is like a McLaren, Fernando Alonso‘s car.”

- Fernando Hierro

“When he plays, in his mind there is only the goal; it’s the football essence. Every time they do something, you stand up over your seat.”

- Thierry Henry

The Angel turns 36 today, wishing a very happy birthday to Raúl González Blanco!