Raúl "Madrid" González

Raúl González Blanco (born 27 June 1977 in Madrid, Spain), known simply as Raúl, is a Spanish footballer who plays as a striker. Raul has spent most of his career playing for Spanish club Real Madrid until 2010 and is the club's all-time top goalscorer. Raúl is a three-time winner of the UEFA Champions League and has long been the competition's all-time leading goal scorer. He left Real Madrid on the 25th July 2010, having scored 323 goals in 740 appearances. He is also the all-time top goalscorer for the Spanish national side. He has scored a national record 44 goals in 102 caps for Spain.

Although he started out with cross-town rivals Atlético Madrid, he began the 1994-95 season in Madrid's C-team, but was promoted to first team status by coach Jorge Valdano after impressing with sixteen goals in nine games. He became the youngest player (seventeen years and four months) ever to play for the senior side, scoring in his second senior game against derby rivals Atlético Madrid. In all, Raúl registered nine goals in 28 appearances to help Real Madrid win the 1994-95 league championship in his first season. Over the next eight seasons, he won several honours, including another three La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues. For most of this time, Raúl struck up a prolific scoring partnership with Fernando Morientes (and later, Ronaldo). Raúl took over the captaincy of Real Madrid when Fernando Hierro was transferred in 2003, a responsibility he held until leaving the club in 2010. Unusually for such a successful and long-serving player, and despite appearing in two finals, 2002 (in which he scored) and 2004, Raúl has never won the Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup).

He became the first player to score fifty Champions League goals when he netted in a 2-1 group stage win over Olympiacos on 28 September 2005, and continues to be the all-time leader in both Champions League goals (66) and appearances (128). He was also the first player to score in two Champions League finals, netting in the finals of both 2000 against Valencia in Paris, and 2002 against Bayer Leverkusen in Glasgow. Samuel Eto'o later equalled this feat, scoring in the 2006 final against Arsenal and in 2009 against Manchester United.

Raúl holds the distinction of having never received a red card throughout his 15 years at the professional level.  He has scored 322 career goals for Real Madrid, breaking the long-standing club record of Alfredo di Stéfano with a volleyed goal against Sporting Gijon on 15 February 2009. He is also the top active La Liga goalscorer with 227 of his 322 goals scored in La Liga matches, and is presently third on the all-time list, which is headed by Telmo Zarra with 251 goals. Raúl holds the record of all-time top La Liga scorer for Real Madrid with 227, a record previously held by Alfredo di Stéfano.

The club confirmed on 25th July 2010 that Raúl would be leaving the club, a day after Guti confirmed he too would be leaving the club after 25 years. Raúl signed a 2 year contract with FC Schalke 04 on 28 July 2010, ending speculation about his future. Schalke coach Felix Magath hailed the signing as "Great news for Schalke" and "we have succeeded in signing such an exceptional footballer." [source : Raul Gonzalez]

Raúl's Wallpaper