Raúl Biography
Raúl González Blanco is the most successful scorer in the UEFA Champions League's history. He spent most of his career playing for the Spanish giants, Real Madrid. He is a legend in Madrid and a symbol of Madrid's successful years in the 1990's.
Photo used with permission
Childhood
Raúl was born on June 27, 1977 in Madrid, Spain. His first soccer team was San Cristobal de Los Angeles in Madrid.
At 13 years old, Raúl moved to the second biggest team in Madrid: Atletico Madrid. He won the Spanish U15 championship with Atletico. Due to Atletico's financial problems, Raúl moved to Real Madrid in 1992.
Real Madrid
He played for several of Madrid's youth teams before he made his senior debut on October 29, 1994. He was 17 years and 4 months old and is still the youngest player who has ever played for Real Madrid.
Photo used with permission
Eventually, he would replace famous Emilio Butragueño in Madrid's offense.
Raúl appeared in 29 games and scored 7 goals in his first senior season and helped Madrid win La Liga. In the following years, he became more and more Madrid's key player and the fans' favorite.
In his years for Madrid, he won the national championships 5 times, the UEFA Champions League 3 times, and the UEFA Winners' Cup twice.
Between 2003 and 2010, Raúl was the captain of Real Madrid. He scored his 308th goal in 2009 and is the best scorer in the history of Real Madrid. In the summer of 2010, he left Spain and moved to German Bundesliga team Schalke 04.
Schalke 04 and Al-Sadd Sport Club
Sponsored
Raúl signed a two-year contract. All fans were excited to see this famous player in Germany. He scored his first Bundesliga goal on September 25, 2010 against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
On Febraury 15th 2011, he scored a beautiful goal in Schalke's 5:1 win against 1.FC Köln. This goal was not only the goal of the month in February, but also the goal of the year 2011 in Germany!
He won the German Cup with Schalke in this season. Surpringly, it was his first ever national cup.
After two good years, Raúl left Schalke and moved to Al-Sadd Sport Club in Qatar. He immediately won the Qatar Stars League with his team.
Spain
Raúl made his debut for the Spanish senior team in October 1996. He played 102 games and scored 44 goals for Spain. This makes him the second most prolific scorer in Spain's history behind David Villa.
