Adios, Raul Gonzalez - The true king of Madrid

Raul spent 16 seasons at Real Madrid scoring 323 goals in 741 games

Sometimes, you feel like it won’t end. Time just stops, but it is moving quicker than ever. The bliss is of another realm, something that can’t be defined. An eternal feeling in an ephemeral land. These are the best moments of one’s lives. And when they happen, times seems to come to a halt.

Such was the case for a little 10-year-old kid who was watching his first football World Cup. He wasn’t sure about which team to support. His old man was supporting France, more of an inertia action from the previous World Cup coupled with fandom for Zinedine Zidane’s artistry, so he was obviously a little inclined towards Les Blues.

But then he saw the number 7 of Spain in action and everything changed.

He had opened the scoring in the game for Spain. The Slovenian defence were left befuddled by his cunningness and I, the aforementioned 10-year-old, was witnessing magic that filled my heart with nothing but love for the game and him.

That’s what Raul Gonzalez Blanco could do. And he did, leaving many kids like I was back then in awe of him.

It was almost 8 years since his debut for Real Madrid that I came to know of his existence, those were the 8 years I put to ruin. As he came on the pitch for the outgoing Emilio Butregueno, one could feel the hopes of fans resonating in the stadium. A prodigal son replaced by another. And, oh my, he didn’t disappoint.

His first contribution to the club was setting up a goal for Ivan Zamorano. The very next week in his home debut, Raul scored his first ever goal for Real Madrid against Atletico Madrid – the club that abandoned him in his early days.

Raul’s iconic goal celebration – kissing the ring finger

What stood out about him wasn’t the goals or assists but rather his work-ethic and personality. He wasn’t the most gifted player, but it was those qualities that gave him a legendary status in the football fraternity.

These days we find a lot of world class footballers, but few ooze the class that Raul did. For all the fancy football moves, cars and clothes, they don’t seem to possess the basic etiquette of which the Real Madrid icon was an epitome of.

Even in his late 30s, one could see him run to-and-fro on the pitch bleeding every sweat and covering every inch of grass to contribute to the team. That hunger and desire never left him.

I can still remember his last piece of action for Real Madrid – a goal. Raul, who came on to replace an injured Rafael van der Vaart, signaled to bench that he could no longer continue and called for a change.

But his altruistic nature meant that it wasn’t before he dragged himself to Zaragoza’s box and poked in into an open net and finished his Real Madrid career with a goal. It was an apt way to end it, something that can never be forgotten.

A two-year venture at Schalke was supposed to be the bottom of the downward spiral, but Raul once again showed that wherever he went, he lit up the place like a million suns would have. In fact, his impact at the German club was so much that they retired his number 7 shirt for one season after he left and also gave him a much better farewell than his boyhood club.

What remains the darkest spot in his otherwise flawless career is the lack of trophies on the international front. At the club level, he won it all. But he wasn’t there when Spain were dominating the world of football with their unique brand of tiki-taka.

Raul played almost 100 games in two seasons for Schalke and scored 40 goals

Raul may be retiring at the end of the season, but his memories will echo till the end of time. For 21 years, he graced the game with his presence and provided us with so many memories, so many moments of glory, so many moments of joy.

His first goal, signaling the Camp Now crowd to keep quiet, his goals in the Champions league final against Valencia and Bayer Leverkusen, his goals in El Clasicos, celebrating his goal by kissing the right ring finger, breaking Alfredo di Stefano's record to become Real's highest goal-scorer, his last goal for Real Madrid, marauding Schalke to the Champions League semi-finals... The memory remains.

Cristiano Ronaldo will become the highest ever goal-scorer for Real Madrid, but he can never truly be what Raul was at Madrid. He was the king, the unprecedented one and perhaps no one can ever take that place.

Adios, Raul Gonzalez Blanco – it was one heck of a ride. And another one awaits at the Bernabeu. But this time in a suit, not a jersey.