Raul gonzalez

In his young career Raul has already made a big name in the soccer world. Born in June 1977 Raul played for Real Madrid at the age of 17 and at that age he also played in the Champions League. Together with Kluivert, Beckham and Ivo de la Pena he was one of the top talents from Europe. Before he came to Real Madrid, he played for the youth teams of rival Atletico Madrid. They didn't think Raul could be any use for the club, so they led him go real easy.

Raul is now one of the regular starters for the Spanish team. Coach Javier Clemente didn't want to take to Euro'96 in England last year, because Raul was to young according to Clemente. He won already two national championships. In 1995 and in 1997. In 1998 Real Madrid (with raul) won the Champions League and the World Cup for Clubteams aswell. Raul is still scoreing goals like it means no problem to him and will be an important player for the coming 8 years. Raul didn't play a very good World Cup in France'98, but noone from Spain did. They didn't even reach the second round. However, Euro 2000 in Holland could be a nice step back to the top for Spain, which would mean Raul will play at the top again with Spain aswell.