Every team have their talisman - the player who symbolises the principles and values of his club, the man who embodies his club’s spirit, the leader who wears the captain’s armband and heads his team not just by way of words, but also by example.
For Real Madrid, that man is Raul Gonzalez Blanco.
For Los Blancos, Raul was, of course, a player of historic quality, breaking nearly every record at a club that set the gold standard for exceptional footballers with players like Alfredo Di Stefano, Emilio Butragueño, Michel, and Hugo Sanchez. From being the youngest player to ever play for the Blanco senior side (17 yrs, 4 months) to holding the record as the Champions League’s top scorer, not to mention finishing his career as Real Madrid’s all-time top scorer, Raul has etched his name into the very foundation of the Santiago Bernabeu’s edifice.
For his country, success was no harder to come by. Although David Villa is fast approaching the mark, Raul continues to hold the record as Spain’s top scorer in international competition and, quite frankly, it remains a flabbergasting mystery, if not highway robbery, that the now-former Madrid captain did not secure a Ballon D’Or trophy in his career despite a trophy case full of personal and collective accolades. His highest finish in the voting came in 2001 when he finished second to Liverpool’s Michael Owen.
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