Raul moves to Schalke04 after 16 years with Real Madrid.

The legendary Raul left Real Madrid many years ago.

Raul started his career in the 94’-95’ season, providing a terrific 10 years of football where he shared his magic and spark that left us in awe for 90 minutes in every game he played in. He was unarguably the most decisive player and had a big hand in Real Madrids European success. Especially in 2000 and 2002 where he received the Pichichi twice .

But since the 2003-2004 season, specifically at the end of the first term, his form was noticeably beginning to drop. He went from being the player that was glowing in the field into someone who was but a shadow of his old self. He was barely ever seen on the pitch. Before his decline in form, he scored 11 goals in La Liga most of which were at Home. He scored 6 goals in CDL and 2 goals in the Champions League aswell.

Age: 26
Total Goals: 19 in 51 games.

2004-2005

Before the season began Raul played with the Spanish national team in Euro 2004 and did not manage to score a single goal. Spain did not move past the group stages and were eliminated from the tournament.

In that specific season he only scored 13 goals in 43 games, 9 of which were in La Liga and against small teams. He turned into a player who constantly struggled against big teams. In that season there were clearly players who were in better form who could have played but never got the chance.

-F. Morientes who was just back from a loan.
-Michael Owen our new big signing.

Morientes sadly left to Liverpool. Michael owen was imprisoned on the bench with the exception of the last games of the that La Liga season. Luxemburgo at that time played with 3 strikers (Ronaldo, Owen and Raul) and so we saw that it was Figo’s turn to warm the bench.

Even though Michael Owen was a substitute he managed to score 16 goals in 43 games.

Owen leaves Real Madrid. We are left with Raul and Ronaldo, and we acquired “The Beast” Julio Baptista from Sevilla. Julio was known to have great striking ability however he was played as a midfielder when he came to RM. Julio picked up an injury and sadly didn’t have the chance to compete with Raul.

Raul was injured, in the Classico that season . It was considered the biggest injury he had had in his career and also the only one. He stopped playing for 3 months but quickly was put back as a starter after he recovered. He scored 5 goals that season beating our new signing Sergio Ramos who had 4 goals. Raul also scored 2 goals in the CL.

Age: 27
Total of goals: 7 in 33 matches

Before the beginning of the season Raul played in the World cup with the Spanish national team and only managed 1 goal against a weak Tunisian side.

As Cappello being appointed our new coach that La Liga season, Raul was always a starter and played 42 games scoring a total of 12 goals only. Even though he had 7 goals in La Liga that season, we must give credit where it’s due. Raul had played well against the big teams that season which were only 3 or 4 notable games.

In that season Real Madrid won La Liga thanks to Cappello, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Robinho, Mamadou Diarra, Reyyes, Higuan and Guti.

One of the better seasons in his past 4. However he still wasn’t the Raul we knew before. He managed to net 18 goals in La Liga 3 of which were from Penalties. He played 37 games that season, more than Iker Cassillas. He spent most of his time alone in the attack due to Nistelrooy’s injury. RVN however managed to score 16 goals even though he was injured for more than 2 months.

Total of goals: 23 in 46 games.

This was a better season on paper for Raul, where he managed to score 24 goals (more than his previous). However it must be noted that most of these goals were against small teams unlike the season before where they were against the better teams he went up against.

He scored 3 goals in the CDL against Segunda B teams, even though, we didn't manage qualify to the later stages. He also netted 3 goals in the CL against FC Bate and the other two against Zenit in a non-deciding game.

The 18 goals he scored in La Liga were as follows.
-4 x Gijon – 3x Espanyol -1x Deportivo -1x Nomanthia -2x Real Betis -1x Valladolid -4x Sevilla.

The only good team from them was Sevilla who were actually having a bad season. Also if you go back and check the other teams he scored against. You’ll notice they were teams that were threatened to be relegated.

Raul also played more minutes than Cassillas that season. He was also a 99% starter for the entire season.

2009-2010

Raul did not start many games this season. It was bound to happen as his pace and form lacked considerably. Florentino Perez made some big signings which made our team play at a much faster pace Raul couldn’t catch up with. Nonetheless he played a total of 39 games that season most of which where we saw him as a midfielder. He managed 5 goals in La Liga against weak teams and 2 goals in the CL, one of which was against AC Milan.

Age: 32
Total of Goals: 7 out of 39 matches.