Three goals in four matches and all goals have been the moments that spurred the turnaround of the matches. Raul’s header against Atletico Madrid in the derby was reminiscent of all those scores of goals that he has been putting his signature on all his life. To prove that that wasn’t simply wasn’t a fluke, he scored in the very next week against Villarreal, this time he did so with a toepoke, again a trademark finish that has earned him his livelihood and on Tuesday poached a headed goal off a Ruud van Nistelrooy cross against visiting side Werder Bremen in the UEFA Champions League. The reinvention of Raul commenced last season when the suggestion that he was unearthing his old self from the ruins of the past gathered momentum and in the first couple of games in the new season, the conviction that he can do it has strengthened.

Capello Unearthed A Dormant Giant

The archaeological expedition commenced last season under Italian hard man Fabio Capello when he started getting on the scoresheet more frequently than he was wonted to in the twilight of the inevitably doomed galacticos era of Real Madrid and gradually he was reviving the years that witnessed him rise to the pedestal of the striker with the most frightening record in European football with 3 UEFA Champions League gold medals and 5 La Liga championship trophies. He scored 5 league goals and also added to his CV a decent number of goals in the Champions League. All suspicions of Raul getting heavy on his legs, losing his abiity and rapidly fading into footballing oblivion were ceased when under the strict disciplinarian Capello, he was constantly getting games even when he couldn’t contribute in terms of goals.

Recent Revival For Raul At Real

This season, Raul has started to roll back those golden years when he was rated as the arch goal poacher in Spain. The “King of Spain” has hit the back of the opposition net twice already in the opening two matches in La Liga and more importantly, the Spaniard has been contributing to Real’s game. Raul knows that this season, he would have to be doubly active and would have to look over his shoulder from time to time. Last season’s title triumph, which was in fact the first silverware that the club had managed to smuggle into its trophy cabinet in four years, kindled a wild spending spree in the transfer market in the summer. Javier Pedro Saviola has been signed on a free transfer, Gonzalo Higuain has exhibited considerable promise since his incorporation into the team in the January transfer window and Ruud van Nistelrooy, last season’s Pichichi winner, has to be the number one striker for the new Real manager Bernd Schuster. Raul knows that to keep his place in the first string, he has to watch his heels and more importantly watch where the opposition’s goal is.

That is exactly what he has done in the first five games this season for Madrid. He has absorbed a habit over the years of scoring against Real’s bitter cross-city rivals Atletico Madrid—the club that he was raised and nurtured at till he was 15 years old when the then Atletico President Jesus Gil decided to abolish the club’s entire youth system—and he continued the streak at the Bernabeu this season too. 1-0 down in the very first minute itself, then the vintage Raul header in the 15 minute from a Wesley Sneijder cross and the comeback was given the green light. In the next match it was Raul’s vision and schooling in the art of opportunism that created his goal against Villarreal at El Madrigal. An exquisite 45-yard through ball from man of the moment Sneijder and there was Raul, getting behind his marker and kissing the ball home.

Champions League Top Goal Scorer Raul

It was not his goal alone that stood out in that 5-0 mauling of Manuel Pellegrini’s side. Schuster decided to employ Raul as the main striker against Villarreal, a slot that has been, so far, reserved exclusively for van Nistelrooy who played as the second striker in the match. Raul has thrived on loose balls and chiseled passes all his career and he was doing so once more. Come this Tuesday and Raul’s favourite competition, the European Champions League: against Werder Bremen at the Bernabeu; Raul stole ahead of his marker in the 16th minute and placed his place at the right time and at the right place to add one more goal to his Champions League tally. Raul currently holds the record for most goals in the UEFA Champions League, Europe’s premier competition so far he has scored 57 and counting. His commitment and display was hailed by Marca and AS, the two highest selling daily sports papers in Madrid and suddenly, a marked swagger was noticeable in Raul’s steps and optimism is surging once more.

But Raul’s steps at the club have never been completely devoid of thorns; his rhythm at Real Madrid has twice been punctuated by desperate suggestions of him leaving the club. First in the middle of the 2004-2005 season when the Zidanes, Figos, Ronaldos et al were stubbornly draining down the hill and Raul promised to move away from the club should that help it in any way. Then last season, after a 1-0 defeat to Getafe in the opening few weeks of the season which Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas described as the worst game he has ever featured in for Real Madrid, Raul was reported to be considering a exit in the winter transfer period. But how could the club icon be let to depart? Raul stayed on and did play a significant role in bringing the Spanish league crown home; this season, he plans not only to successfully defend the Spanish championship trophy but also win the Champions League as well.

What Does The Future Hold For Raul?

At 30, Raul knows that the ruthless policy of Real Madrid of chopping off the old and worn out sentinels and recruiting new guards could turn its sword towards him pretty soon. But Raul also knows deep in his heart of hearts that he far from finished as a top-level striker in football. Greater things are anticipated from the man who rose from the humble San Cristobal de los Angeles neighbourhood of Madrid and became the talisman of the biggest and most successful club in history.