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| Almost a complete oddity witnessing the man out of that white kit he very much made his own. |
Now 34, the Real Madrid all-time appearence and goal scoring record holder appears the heartbeat inside of a very youthful and promising Schalke side. Working just off of another former Madrid employee Klaas Jan-Huntelaar, he very much serves the Dutch goal scoring machine with all kinds of swarve ammunition that Raul established in the days of The Galacticos.
The raw energy of Jefferson Farfan and in particular a young German winger they think very highly of, Julian Drexler - and this Gelsenkirchen club appear to hold the offensive capabilities of going a long way.
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| By far and away the tie of the Quarter Finals. |
The first-leg at The Veltins-Arena began in stark contrast to the script, Schalke were playing in all of the impressive triangles leaving the Spaniards chasing shadows, barely managing the string two or three passes together.
In honesty, one thing stuck out like a saw thumb - the Schalke number 7.
When Raul accepted the move to Germany, it was almost the end of an era, most believed the end of a career. One of those moves that didn't concern the football - but more the luxurious lifestyle.
Not with Raul.
The vice-Captain is in-or-around a goal every two league games in the Bundesliga and last night was a truly blissful reminder of those glorious Bernabau nights where he lined up shoulder to shoulder with Ronaldo, Zidane and co.
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| The globally known 'Galacticos' |
The 102-capped Spanish forward conducted the proceedings as if leading an orchestra. His free role in the 'hole' allowed his creativity to come to the boil and his brains and guile concocted with pace and power going forward appeared ruthless.
Ironically, it was the Spanish forward all Spaniards will be pinning their hopes on this summer at Euro 2012 that broke the deadlock - so against the run of play - it almost sparked the Raul-inspired Germans into life. 31 seconds was the gap between the scoring of Fernando Llorente's opener and Japanese full-back Atsudo Uchida firing a ball across the six-yard box for Raul to delightfully flick over the Bilbao stopper.
The veteren made his way back to the half-way line. Inspriring his Schalke adorers and almost tutoring his team-mates "that's what we can do".
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| The aftermath of his beautiful second effort. |
Indeed it could've been an even greater, perhaps more nostalgic night of European football if his next cameo had burst the net. The number 7 danced through a couple of challenges before his trademark 'Madrid-chip' almost capped a fantastic hat-rick - the audacity and hunger of the maestro those had grown up to worship still very much existed.
One thing Bilbao showed from their obliteration of the English Champions is that they contain enough quality to always be dangerous - even on an off day. That man Llorente again, intent on ruining his countryman's headlines, smacked a near post header in before two perfectly ruthless counter-attacked finishes from Oscar de Marco and Iker Muniain all but settled the tie with 4 away goals for the thriving Basques.
One things for sure though - anyone watching the quite beautiful, flowing football game can walk away having learnt one thing.
That is what you have to surpass to be considered a true great of the game.
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