Raul's record cheers dull duel with German

Real Madrid forward Raul scored twice to hand Spain a 3-1 friendly win over Germany here on Wednesday to become his country's top goal scorer in history.

Raul had been sharing the record with club team-mate Fernando Hierro, the defender having scored 29 times during his career.

The 25-year-old Real star has now scored 31 goals in 59 games for Spain.

Hierro is currently sidelined with injury so was not on the pitch to see Raul, just one of Spain's array of talented strikers, break his record.

"I want to dedicate this record to my family, who have always supported me in my career," the 25-year-old Real star told reporters.

However Raul's landmark proved to be the only talking point of a match which, on paper, should have been a classic.

Spain and Germany, for example, would have met at the semi-final stage of last year's World Cup had Spain not been controversially eliminated after a quarter-final penalty shoot-out against South Korea.

However their encounter here resulted in many of the 23,000 fans booing throughout.

Germany coach Rudi Voller, who made five substitutions in the match, admitted his team still needed some polishing.

"We had big problems in the second half as we had to keep changing defenders, and against a team like Spain that's fatal," Voller said.

Spain went ahead just over the half hour mark when Valencia midfielder Ruben Baraja crossed for Raul, who controlled nicely with his left foot before firing a low shot past Bayern Munich 'keeper Oliver Kahn.

But Germany drew level only seven minutes later when a mix-up in the area left the ball in the Spanish net after a shot by German forward Fredi Bobic.

In an insipid second half, save for a Jens Jeremies shot which clipped the crossbar, Raul increased his tally from the penalty spot after he had been fouled in the box.

Ten minutes from time Spain took the game beyond reach for Germany when another Real Madrid player, midfielder Guti, latched on to a loose ball in the area and fired past Kahn.