Meet the legend

This is the third installment of ‘Meet the fill-in-the-blank’ on the Spain World Cup Blog. So far, we’ve covered Luis Aragones and Iker Casillas.

Raul Gonzalez Blanco is the most well-known Spanish soccer player in the world. Because of that, perhaps it’s only natural that he is often lumped in with Spain national team’s reputation as underachievers.

From what I gather, there’s two kinds of Spanish soccer fans. On one hand, there’s those who are faithful to Raul and appreciate what he has contributed to Spain’s national team and Spain’s greatest club, Real Madrid. They stand by him and believe there’s a place for him in this year’s World Cup team.

On the other side of the fence, there are those intent on putting the Raul era behind them and ready for a Spain attack that does not include the man who helped Real Madrid win three Champions League titles.

Rival hopping: As a boy, Raul originally signed with Atletico Madrid’s youth system. He appeared destined for a long career with Atletico until the club’s youth system was discontinued during financial cutbacks. He joined Real’s system and the rest (Spanish league titles, Champions League titles, scoring records, etc.) is history.

Impressive statistics: Like him or not, Raul has scored some very big goals in his career. He has 42 goals for Spain. He was the first player to score 50 goals in the Champions League. He is also the most capped outfield player in Spain history.

He said it best: “(Raul) is like Matthaus for us: indispensable with a bad haircut.” - Franz Beckenbauer

Caliente: He kisses his wedding ring after each goal he scores. Here’s why.