They lifted the Champions League and La Liga trophies together as part of Real Madrid's world-renowned Galacticos era -- but today Raul Gonzalez and Zinedine Zidane lead very different lives.
While legendary striker Raul -- who scored 323 goals in 741 appearances for the club -- has settled down in New York with his wife and five children, his former teammate Zidane remains at the heart of the fiery cauldron that is the Santiago Bernabeu as Real's coach.
The Frenchman has enjoyed much success since being appointed boss of Los Blancos in January last year, winning the Champions League and breaking a Spanish record by going 40 games unbeaten. But Raul admits he never though Zidane would become a manager.
"When we were teammates, I never thought that Zizou in the future could be a coach," the former striker told CNN World Sport Tuesday.
"But that's life. I think when he retired, after he tried the second team in Real Madrid [Real Madrid Castilla], from one day to another he decided to be a coach, and he's doing well.
"All the Madridistas, we're very happy for him and we hope he'll stay in this position for a long time. He's a very nice person, very humble. He knows perfectly the soccer and Real Madrid and I think the most important thing is that the players are very happy with him."
A 6-2 aggregate win over Napoli ensured Real advanced to the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday for a seventh successive year. In La Liga, Madrid's form has stuttered of late, but Los Blancos are well-positioned to win the title, trailing Barcelona by a point with a game in hand.
