Raul to decide on future at end of season

Real Madrid captain Raul Gonzalez, who has played mainly as a substitute in recent months, said Thursday he wants to keep playing football but would decide on his future at the end of the season.

“Right now I?m not going to retire. I would like to see out the year left on my contract. We will see what happens at the end of the season. I, above all, want to keep playing football,” he told reporters when asked about his plans.

The 32-year-old Real icon, who is under contract with Real until 2011, had been a regular in the first team since he made his debut with the club at 17.

But coach Manuel Pellegrini has left him on the bench recently in favour of France’s Karim Benzema, Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

Raul has started just eight games this year and scored four goals in the league this season.

He said he was confident that Real would win La Liga this season. The club is one point behind leaders Barcelona with five matches remaining.

“Every remaining match is important, for both Barcelona and Real Madrid. We need to take each match as it comes and not get ahead of ourselves. All that matters now is that we continue winning and maintaining the form we have shown in recent matches,” he said.

“The team is very confident. I believe we will win La Liga and we will do our very best in order to do so. We know we don’t control our own destiny, but we know that we will have a decent chance if we win out,” he added.

The striker has won more than 100 caps for Spain. But he has not appeared for the national side since September 2006 when he was controversially dropped by former Spain coach Luis Aragones.