Former Liverpool midfielder Steve McManaman warns Manchester United of Schalke’s Raul Gonzalez
Ex-http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gonzalez-c15099, and the threat he poses to their goal.
United will take on Schalke for the first of a two-legged semi-final of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, 26th April, 2011. McManaman, who was Raul’s team-mate when he used to play for Real Madrid, believes that the Spanish striker is the
major threat to Manchester United’s Champions League ambitions this season.
Raul is the leading scorer in Champions League history, with 71 goals to his name so far. The 33-yeaar-old scored over the two-legs against defending Champions, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan, and played a huge role in a 7-3 aggregate win over the Nerazzurri.
Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, is a huge admirer of Raul and recently admitted that he came extremely close to signing the Real Madrid legend before the start of the 2010/11 season.
McManaman admitted that Raul will have to play a huge role if Schalke are to get the better of Sir Alex Ferguson’s men.
Talking to reporters, McManaman said, “He plays so many games and scores so many goals. I don’t know how interested United were but I knew he loved the English League and in an ideal world he would have come to the Premier League."
“Maybe he thought he wouldn’t have played enough games here and the reason he left Real Madrid was that he wanted to play in every single game. I don’t think Sir Alex could have promised to play him in every single game. He’s gone to a lesser team because he
knew he could drive them forward,” added the former Kop star
The 39-year-old went onto praise Raul’s dedication towards the game and admitted that the Spaniard gives his 200 percent in training and it is a great feeling for any player to play alongside him.
The former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Royal-95-c40387 Blues to their first ever Champions League semi-final and has been really influential behind their success.
McManaman admitted that Schalke go into semi-final as the underdogs but having seen their performance at the San Siro in the quarter-finals, he believes they can upset even the best in the business.
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