MADRID, Spain — Real Madrid striker Raul Gonzalez and Spain coach Luis Aragones met in a bid to defuse the tension caused by the player’s omission from the national team.
The two spoke Thursday at the Spanish Football Federation after Raul asked Aragones to meet him in a bid to end the differences that have been played up between them for the "good of the national team."
"Fundamentally, what interests Raul and what interests the coach and what interests the federation is that we end all of the debates and all of these themes and we move forward," said Aragones, who has faced intense scrutiny for not selecting Raul despite the Madrid captain’s improved form.
"The debate and the speculation does not help anyone. What we want to do is end all of the debate."
Aragones said nothing had changed regarding Raul’s chances of playing at the European Championship in June.
"Spain is split in two and we want to end this," Aragones said. "If I feel he is worth calling up, I will. But if I don’t, then I won’t."
Raul, Spain’s all-time leading scorer with 44 goals in 102 games, believes a normal misunderstanding between a coach and a player had been blown out of proportion.
"I’ve been thinking about it for many months and I want the team to qualify without all of this suffering," Raul said. "It hurts me that with each game there is speculation and manipulation of news that isn’t always real."
Raul hasn’t played for Spain since it lost to Sweden in qualifying for Euro 2008 in September 2006.
The 30-year-old Raul has scored 15 goals in all competitions for Spanish league leader Madrid after a season in which he only had seven goals in 35 games. He has played at three World Cups and two European Championships.
Aragones has faced relentless questioning over the omission of Raul and was involved in a shouting match on national radio earlier this month when other journalists challenged him on the issue.