Topics: Raul Gonzalez Blanco, Real Madrid, New York Cosmos, Spain, Schalke 04, La Liga, NASL
His season with New York Cosmos ends in November. He made his professional debut on October 28, 1994 against Real Zaragoza

Real Madrid legend Raul Gonzalez Blanco had considered retiring this Wednesday and one day later he made it official. The Spanish striker will step aside from professional soccer once his first and only season with the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League is over this November.

“Playing soccer has been part of my life for so long and the decision to retire is not an easy one but I believe it is the right time," Raúl said in an interview with Diario AS.

The soccer world is weeping the decision made by one of football's greatest stars

By far, Raúl's greatest moments were with Real Madrid. He was part of their youth academy and in 1994, he finally got the chance to play with the big team. At that point, 16 years of unmeasurable satisfactions were just starting. He got to play 103 games with Spain scoring 44 goals.

During his time as a Merengue, Raul scored 323 games in 741 official matches. Right now it is unclear if Cristiano Ronaldo has only matched that record or if the Portuguese striker is already above him. Either way, Raul is not mad and told Ronaldo to go ahead and score another 300 goals.

Three Champions League titles are definitely the highlights of his resumé. Six La Liga titles and two Intercontinental Cups are just a small part of a vast amount of titles Madrid's former number seven was able to achieve. He won the Pichichi twice, was voted La Liga's Breakthrough Player in 1995 and has a record of being voted five times as the Best Player in La Liga.

His rivalry against Barcelona stays on the field

After leaving Madrid in the summer of 2010, Raul moved to Germany where he played for Schalke 04 with which he won two titles in two years. Al-Sadd was his next team where he also earned to more trophies with the club and is now finishing a very short career with Cosmos in New York City. 

“I'm thankful to everyone who has supported me throughout my career and I look forward to playing my final games with the New York Cosmos over the coming weeks.”

For Cosmos, the decision is not much of a surprise. He did not sign a long-term contract with the club. Right from the moment that he joined the club, Raúl made it clear that it would all depend on an evaluation made by him, if he continued playing or not. 

Raúl has one last wish