Raúl González Blanco (born 27 June 1977 in Madrid, Spain) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker.
In 1987, he joined the junior team of St Christopher FC, wearing the number 10 shirt and becoming captain.
In 1990, he joined Atletico Madrid youth and Raúl has since improved rapidly among the youth teams at all levels.
In 1992, Raúl joined the real Madrid football club youth team.
In 1994, Baldano selected Raul into the Real Madrid squad.
In 1994, at the age of 17, Raúl made his debut in Real Madrid's away match against Zaragoza F.C., becoming the youngest player in Real Madrid's history to represent a team to start the game, and in his first La Liga season, Raúl made 28 appearances and scored 9 goals, and was elected the best rookie in La Liga and became the "golden boy" of Spain. As the all-time top scorer in the Champions League, Raul scored 71 goals in 144 appearances in his career in the Champions League.
In 1995, Raul made his first Appearance in the Champions League, scoring his first career Champions League goal and scoring a hat-trick, becoming the youngest player in The History of the Champions League to score a hat-trick.
In the 1996/1997 season, Raúl made 42 league appearances, scoring 21 goals, helping the team to beat Barcelona into the league title.
In the 1998/1999 season, Raúl made 37 league appearances, scoring 25 goals, winning the La Liga Golden Boot for the first time and winning the 1999 FIFA World Top Scorer Award.
In the 1999/2000 season, Raul also won the Champions League's top scorer of the season with 10 goals, and his partner with Fernando Morientes became a gemini in European football.
In the 2000/2001 season, Raúl made 36 league appearances, scoring 25 goals, winning the La Liga Golden Boot for the second time in his career, and scoring seven goals in the Champions League to win the Champions League's top scorer.
In the 2001/2002 season, Raúl made 35 league appearances and scored 14 goals. Helping the team win the Champions League for the ninth time in its history, Raúl was also named the best striker in the Champions League by UEFA for the third consecutive year.
In 2003, at the age of 26, Raúl took over the captain's armband from veteran captain Hierro and became the youngest captain in Real Madrid's history.
In the 2005 Champions League group stage, Real Madrid defeated Olympiacos 2-1 at home, and Raul scored his 50th goal in the Champions League, setting a new record for goals in the history of the Champions League.
In 2010, Real Madrid announced that captain Raul had officially left the team and left the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, where he had been playing for 16 years.
Raúl has won 23 trophies in his playing career, making 1,033 appearances for clubs and teams, scoring 432 goals.
He has been named La Liga's top scorer twice, the Champions League top scorer twice, the UEFA Striker of the Year, the Spanish Footballer of the Year, the World Footballer of the Year.