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Home  » Sports » Raul sets Spanish record in
3-1 win over Germany

Raul sets Spanish record in
3-1 win over Germany

February 13, 2003 12:14 IST
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Raul struck twice on Wednesday to lead Spain to a 3-1 friendly victory over Germany and set a new international scoring record for his country.

The 25-year-old Real Madrid striker put Spain ahead on 31 minutes, controlling a high ball into the box from Ruben Baraja and shooting across keeper Oliver Kahn.

That took his international tally to 30 in his 59th international appearance and saw him surpass the old mark he shared with defender Fernando Hierro, who quit international football after last summer's World Cup.

Germany equalised six minutes before half-time, Fredi Bobic bundling in from a corner after the Spanish defence had failed to clear a powerful Christian Woerns header.

Raul bagged his second from the penalty spot on 77 minutes, setting the new scoring record at 31 to put Spain back in front, with Guti making it 3-1 eight minutes from time as he took a deflected pass from Vicente and poked a shot past Kahn.

That made it a second successive 3-1 defeat for Germany, after a similarly heavy setback against the Netherlands in another friendly last November.

Rudi Voeller's side, runners-up at last year's World Cup, enjoyed a good early spell and appeared fully at ease as they were cheered on by thousands of fans from among the large German population on Mallorca.

Miroslav Klose twice tested Iker Casillas from good shooting positions, while Joerg Boehme was well over with a shot from the edge of the box on 12 minutes.

NEW RECORD

Raul was struggling to get into the game but he made his presence felt in typical fashion with his side's first goal just past the half-hour mark and set the new record.

Baraja picked him out with a great ball into the area and Raul did well to hold off Christoph Metzelder and skew his shot past Kahn.

Germany looked set to spoil Raul's celebrations when a header from Woerns deflected off Jens Jeremies before falling to Bobic to blast in from close range.

The visitors had another period of possession at the start of the second half and Jeremies almost gave his side the lead with a spectacular effort on 70 minutes as he surprised Casillas and hit the bar with a shot from inside his own half.

The Bayern Munich midfielder went close again a couple of minutes later but Raul changed the game as he went down in the box under challenge from Woerns.

Raul moved further clear at the top of the goalscoring charts by sending Kahn the wrong way and Guti completed a highly satisfying night for the Spanish with the third.

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Source: REUTERS
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