RAUL GONZALEZ

Raúl González Blanco (born June 27, 1977 in Madrid, Spain), usually referred to as Raúl, is a Spanish professional football forward. He has been playing for Real Madrid at senior level since 1994, and is the team captain since 2003. He is also a member of the Spanish national team, and is its all-time leading goal scorer with 44 goals. He represented Spain in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2000, the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2004 and 2006 FIFA World Cup tournaments. With Real Madrid, he has won the UEFA Champions League three times, and is the all-time leading scorer of that competition with 61 goals.

Raúl is currently seventh highest goalscorer in the history of Spain's top flight, with 205 goals in 483 games. All of these goals were for Real Madrid, making Raúl the club's second highest goalscorer of all time. He is also called 'El siete' (The Seven), 'El Angel del Madrid' (Madrid's Angel), and 'El Capitán' (The Captain) by fans and pundits.

When playing, he wears jersey number 7 for both club and country (except WC'98 and EC'00 he wore 10 for Spain). He has been wearing the number 7 shirt for Real Madrid since he was 19.

His current contract with Real Madrid runs until 2011 and will be extended for a year each as long as he plays at least 30 official games for Real Madrid in his last year of a contract. This means that he will likely play for the club for the rest of his career. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest Spanish Footballers of all time.

Honors

Club

• Spanish La Liga: (6) : 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008
• Spanish Super Cup: (3) : 1997, 2001, 2003
• UEFA Champions League: (3) : 1998, 2000, 2002
• European Super Cup: (1) : 2002
• Intercontinental Cup: (2) : 1998, 2002

Individual

• Pichichi Trophy: : 1999 and 2001
• Copa de Su Majestad el Rey Top Scorer: 2003-2004
• Spanish Player of the Year: : 1996-97 season
• UEFA Club Football Best Forward Award: : 2000, 2001 and 2002
• Intercontinental Cup Man of the Match: 1998
• IFFHS World Goalgetter: 1999
• Spanish outstanding sportsman: 2000
• UEFA Champions League Top Scorer: 1999-2000, 2000-2001
• Royal Order's gold medal for Sports Merit: 2006
• Bronze Boot of Europe: 1999, 2001
• FIFA World Player of the Year, Bronze award:2001
• European Footballer of the Year, Silver award: 2001
• Best Spanish Sportsman of the Year: 2007
• Alfredo di Stéfano Award: 2008

Achievements

• Scored the 800th goal in Spain's national team history, March 27, 1999 vs Austria.
• Scored the 900th goal in Spain's national team history, September 7, 2002 vs Greece.
• Spanish national team all-time leading scorer with 44 goals..
• Most appearances for an outfield player in the Spanish national team with .
• Top active scorer in La Liga.
• Top UEFA Champions League appearances with 116.^[4][2].
• UEFA Champions League all-time leading scorer with 61 goals.
• UEFA all-time leading scorer with 63 goals.
• 2 goals in 3 UEFA Champions League Finals.
• Has gone 30 months without receiving a yellow card and has never been sent off at professional level.
• 7 all-time top scorer in La Liga (205): 1 Zarra 251, 2 Hugo Sánchez 234, 3 Di Stéfano 227, 4 César 226, 5 Quini 219, 6 Pahíño 210, 7 Raúl 205.
• 2 all-time top scorer in La Liga with Real Madrid: 1 Di Stéfano 216, 2 Raúl 205.
• 2 all-time top-scorer in Real Madrid history: 1 Di Stéfano 307, 2 Raúl 292..