Raul can make life hell for Red Devils
The team knelt in homage and Schalke’s number seven led 15,000 people in an anthem that sounded suspiciously like a version of Yellow Submarine.
Raul Gonzalez is still struggling a little with the language, so a couple of fans helped him out with the words. The Veltins-Arena exploded with joy.
Raul has always been a fans’ player. In his final match for Real Madrid, injured and hobbling, he still managed to score with his last kick of the ball for the club. Inside nine months he has become a legend in Germany just as he was in Spain.
That last kick for Madrid took his tally to 323 goals in 741 matches. Over 16 seasons he broke almost every scoring record imaginable. Three times a Champions League winner, he leads the all-time list of scorers by a distance.
Eight years ago, he bagged a couple in an epic quarter-final against United. “The best player in the world,” Alex Ferguson called him then, putting him ahead of his team-mates Zidane, Figo and Ronaldo.
Real Madrid tried to keep him last summer, but after an injury-hit season Raul wanted more than a bit part.
United were linked with the 33-year-old last summer before he moved to Germany and Raul confirmed there was contact with the Old Trafford club.
He said: “There were a couple of possibilities and United was one but the only person who knows just how close, is Alex Ferguson. I never spoke to him personally but there were contacts with United.”
Few could have anticipated his impact in Germany.
Schalke had a shocking start to the season, losing their first four games, and it took Raul three months to get into his stride with five goals in two matches against St Pauli and Werder Bremen. Another hat-trick followed against Koln and then the winner against Bayern Munich in the semi-final of the cup.
In Europe the vital away goal against Valencia and two against Inter have added to his amazing Champions League record, now exactly one goal every other game: 71 in 142 matches, stretching back to a night in Budapest in November 1995.
United will be grateful that Raul’s current strike rate is below his best years at Real Madrid. He still has that poise and timing in front of goal though. Just look at those games against Valencia and Inter.
In Valencia it was his quick take and left-foot finish across the goal that deceived both defender and goalkeeper.
In Milan he turned and twisted Chivu twice before stroking the ball beyond Julio Cesar with his right.
In the second leg Inter were chasing a lost cause, but Raul’s opener killed them off and his balance and control in the one-on-one with Julio Cesar were perfection.
Two of those goals were made by the unsung hero of Schalke’s campaign, José Manuel Jurado, who learned his trade at Real Madrid before moving to Atletico, where he won the Europa League last season.
Jurado has creativity and skill to rival Xavi and Iniesta at Barcelona but has never quite delivered. With Raul reading his passes they have formed a potentially lethal partnership.
What has really won the hearts of the Schalke fans, however, is Raul’s contribution to the team.
United are certainly favourites to reach the final again — especially as the second leg is at Old Trafford — but Raul has the quality to hurt them, and Madrid fans are convinced that destiny calls for a reunion at Wembley on May 28.
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