Raul celebrates landmark as Real go second

Real Madrid captain Raul celebrated his 500th league appearance in the famous white shirt with a goal as the champions climbed to second with a comfortable 3-0 win at Real Mallorca on Sunday.

Incredibly it was Real’s first away win in the league since October 18 and the capital giants are now nine points behind tabletoppers Barcelona who have a game in hand.

Arjen Robben opened the scoring as early as the third minute before Raul, 31, struck on 17 minutes with his seventh goal of the campaign and Sergio Ramos netted a third in the second half.

Real legend Raul now stands sixth in the Spanish league appearance standings just 24 matches from equalling the club record held by Manuel Sanchis.

Former Barcelona goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta holds the all-time appearance record with 622 league outings.

While Real had a great day at the office Atletico Madrid lost 3-2 at home to struggling Athletic Bilbao to increase the calls for coach Javier Aguirre’s head.

Bilbao came from a goal down to stun Atletico whose misery was summed up when Maniche was sent off for a second yellow card in the closing stages.

Atletico are now four points behind fourth-placed Valencia and despite guiding the club into the last 16 of this season’s Champions League, Aguirre is clinging to his job.

For Real, Dutch forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who made his debut last weekend, was dropped to the bench with Gonzalo Higuain, back from a bout of tonsilitis, partnering Raul in attack.

Higuain had an immediate impact, lofting a third minute pass to Robben who was just onside as he raced clear before slotting home to score for the second consecutive game.

Higuain was the provider again on 17 minutes powering down the right flank before fizzing in a cross that Raul flicked in with his trailing leg.

Just before the interval the Mallorca players were up in arms at not being awarded a penalty when Pepe appeared to use his hand to block a shot but the referee waved play on.

A paltry 2,500 fans had turned up at the Ono Stadium for Mallorca’s midweek Kings cup match against Almeria, possibly due to the cold weather, and the bulk of the improved 23,140 crowd probably wished they too had stayed at home in the warm.

Ramos volleyed in a third on 66 minutes and Real kept a third successive clean sheet to suggest things are improving under new manager Juande Ramos.

Frontrunners Barcelona can move 12 points clear of Real again when they face basement side Osasuna later on Sunday.

Everything points to an away win but Barca have not fared well at Osasuna in the past and coach Pep Guardiola warned of their aerial threat.

“Osasuna are powerful in the air and have a lot of character,” said Guardiola. “Barcelona also do not have a great record at their ground.”