began his legendary Real Madrid career on 29 October 1994. The forward made his debut at La Romareda against Real Zaragoza (3-2) at just 17 years of age. It marked the beginning of a historic spell that would see him go on to play 741 competitive first-team games, a club record, scoring 323 goals. Raúl became an icon for madridismo over the course of 16 seasons, during which time he won 3 European Cups, 2 Intercontinental Cups, 1 European Super Cup, 6 LaLiga titles and 4 Spanish Super Cups.

Following his debut in Zaragoza, he took just one week to show off his eye for goal, finding the back of the net in the derby against Atlético in the very next game. From that point on, he defined a footballing era across the globe, scoring countless big goals, including in the European finals that yielded La Octava and La Novena, as well as in the Intercontinental Cup final against Vasco de Gama.