Raúl and Bojan: Two Men, One Problem

Raúl González and Bojan Krkić. Two players at different ends of their careers, but with a lot of similarities. They’re both forwards. They both play for the club that thinks it’s the biggest in La Liga. They’re both famous enough to be known internationally by just their first name (see also: Madonna). They both have the same haircut, more or less, and they’re both striking similar poses in the above image. And both face the same question this year: How much will I get to play?

Let’s start with Real Madrid’s Raúl. The man has ruled the dressing room at Real Madrid for about a decade now. If he did nothing but score own goals for the next two seasons, he’d still be a club legend, and – even out of form – he’s been more or less undroppable. But that was before the Galacticos 2.0 revolution.

With the return of Florentino Pérez (who isn’t necessarily Raul’s biggest fan) and the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká, Raúl’s name is no longer first on the team sheet.

He’s been in decent form the past two seasons, and – even though it feels like he’s been around forever – is still only 32. But – club legend or not – the money spent on C-Ron, Kaka, Benzema and company means they have to play.

Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Bojan faces similar obstacles, with Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Leo Messi all blocking his path to the starting XI.

Bojan arguably needs games even more than Raul does. He’s long been hyped as the next great Barcelona youngster – we even have an Offside nickname waiting for him, once he starts scoring: Mr. Bojangoals (courtesy of Rob) – but will soon turn 19 (a week from today as it happens) and has yet to nail down a first team place or put together a consistent run of form.

Not that doing such a thing is easy in the current Barcelona team. Or in that newly refurbished Real Madrid team.

So maybe Raul and Bojan should look elsewhere? For the majority of footballers, a lack of first team action can be solved with a move elsewhere. But can you imagine Raúl playing for anyone but Real Madrid? I literally find it impossible. Similarly, Bojan was born in the Catalonian community of Lleida and has even played twice for the Catalan national team (which is a whole other blog post). So when you’re that Catalan, and you’ve come through the Barcelona youth system, there’s really nowhere else to go without it being a step down.

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Category: Spain La Liga