Veteran striker bangs in 69th Champions League goal
Schalke, unbeaten at home in Europe, grabs valuable away goal through 33-year-old marksman
It had to be Raúl. On his first competitive return to Spain since his summer transfer from Real Madrid to Schalke 04 of the Bundesliga, the Champions League's top scorer in history racked up his 69th strike in the competition against Valencia to leave the tie delicately balanced ahead of the return leg.
Another former Real striker, Roberto Soldado, gave the home side the lead after quarter of an hour and Valencia was the superior team for large spells of the game: Schalke is enduring a torrid domestic season and the continuance of its coach, Felix Magath, is the subject of scrutiny among the German club's hierarchy.
His signing of Raúl, though, has proved something of a coup.
Far from seeking a final pay day - the USA and the Emirates would have been more rewarding fiscally - the former Spain number seven is still as predatory and driven as ever. Raúl has 10 Bundesliga goals to his name and has scored three in Europe this season, overtaking Gerd Müller as the continent's top marksman in the Champions League after a brace at Hapoel Tel Aviv in the group stages.
In the 64th minute at Mestalla, Raúl silenced the catcalls raining down on himover his former allegiance with a trademark left-footed drive. It was an invaluable away goal snatched by the player who scored Real's third in a 3-0 Champions League final win over Valencia in 2000.
"The decision to leave Real was correct," said Raúl, who had been gradually reduced to the role of substitute at the club where he spent 16 prolific years. "I needed a game like this to feel like a footballer again."
"We have now a very good starting position for the return leg but we are aware that there is a huge task still in front of us," Magath said after the match. "Raúl proved again today that he has lost none of his class as a player."
Schalke won all of its group matches at home in this season's Champions League and Valencia has an onerous challenge to break that run in Gelsenkirchen on March 9.
"If it hadn't hurt us so much we would be the first to congratulate him," Valencia coach Unai Emery said of the player who is now indisputably Schalke's number seven.
