Euro 2008

They deserve them, but will sizzling madridistas Guti and Raúl earn recalls?

Real Madrid may have stolen the Liga title from Barcelona’s grasp last season, but there is nothing undeserved about their number one position in the table this campaign.

Bernd Schuster, like all Real Madrid coaches before him, has endured plenty of criticism but the weekend’s 7-0 thumping of Valladolid and the opening up of an eight-point gap at the summit looks to have finally quietened his detractors.

It’s exciting football, and it’s winning football - exactly what Schuster was told to bring to the Bernabéu upon his arrival from Getafe after the dullness of Fabio Capello’s second one-year reign, albeit apart from a crazy last couple of months in which Real stunningly stole the title.

Real are averaging three goals a game at home and have totalled 53 goals in just 23 matches. The home faithful were left disillusioned by the lack of fortress the Bernabéu was proving under Capello but eleven victories from eleven matches in the capital this season have left the supporters without complaint. And while three defeats on the road have threatened to derail their title charge, victory at the Camp Nou provided the evidence that their Catalan rivals would be truly usurped this time around. The 1-0 win presented Real with an invaluable psychological advantage, one that has helped instigate Barcelona’s drop in form over recent weeks, opening up a potentially decisive gap at the top of La Liga.

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The driving force behind their seemingly impenetrable dominance? Two Spaniards alienated from la selección, Raúl and Guti. The dazzling form of Madrid’s two old hands has been critical in bringing the heart back to a side sitting on death row for much of the last five years, and it is no coincidence that Real’s vast improvement has transpired amid the return to form of their captain and playmaker, both of whom had ostensibly lost their touch and vitality on the field before Schuster’s arrival. Now, the shouts are getting louder for the duo to return to the national fold and coach Luis Aragonés has big decisions to make ahead of Euro 2008.

Guti - full name Jose Maria Gutierrez - scored twice and set-up three more in the thrashing of Valladolid and Marca have been keen to draw comparisons with Zinedine Zidane. Guti has forever been an enigma who has never quite fulfilled his potential and has often been on the sidelines rather than at the core of the action during his long stay in Madrid. Now 31, he is performing far more consistently and appears much more settled than at any previous time in the white shirt. He has the vision, poise and guile to open up any defence and has the experience to be able to take his club game onto the international stage as Spain look to end, at long last, their trophy drought.

Raúl was abysmal last season - he scored just seven times in thirty-five games - and although the Spanish media, particularly the aforementioned Real-obsessed Marca, were up in arms when Aragonés dropped the iconic forward, it was a fully justified decision. No longer, however. The case to reinstate him grows with each game and Raúl has notched eleven goals at a ratio of one every two matches with Schuster utilising him as an out-and-out striker rather than the Capello system of often using him in a withdrawn role behind the main striker or as an attacking midfielder. Inevitably, the Champions League all-time leading scorer has matched his La Liga scoring feats on the peninsula with three in six games, and there would be no greater justification for restoring him than if Real were to triumph in the world’s greatest club competition in May.

Aragonés realises it would appear a nonsensical decision to leave the pair out of the Euro 2008 squad, but he has yet to indicate that the on-song duo will be welcomed back with open arms. A stubborn figure he may be, but the coach also acknowledges that he would possibly be placing a bounty on his own head by heading off to Austria/Switzerland without the two current major stars of Spain’s domestic competition. Only progression to the latter stages - the semis or even the final - would vindicate such a decision to leave them at home. Aside from sentiment getting in the way, if Guti and Raúl are recalled and do reproduce their club form, Spain will have a very special squad indeed and one undoubtedly capable of shaking off their underachievers tag and celebrating an extremely rare moment of glory in Vienna at the end of June.

Real Madrid’s brilliance could translate into Spanish brilliance, and the Euro 2008 trophy would be a fitting tribute to two such loyal and technically outstanding footballers who are nearing the end of their remarkable one-club careers. Both have demonstrated they are up to the task; hence, the focus has turned onto the coach.

It’s down to you now, Señor Aragonés, to make the most crucial decision of your reign.

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Do Guti and Raúl deserve to be recalled?
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