Raul Bravo

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Raúl Bravo Sanfélix (born April 14, 1981 in Gandía, Valencia, Spain) is a Spanish football defender, who is currently on the roster of Olympiakos Piraeus.

Raúl Bravo's football career began in the 1995-96 season. He joined Real Madrid's teenagers the following season and then the Junior B team. Bravo was capped for Spain on the Under-16 level in 1997-98 season, when the national team won the Algarve Tournament. The Under-17 national team was his next step, playing in the Nymburk International Tournament (he scored two goals in three matches). Raúl Bravo was a part of the Junior A at Real by that time and played in that team for two more seasons (1998-2000). Next stop was the Real Madrid's reserve team in the Third Division (2000-01) and then moved to the Second Division B (01-02). The international call-ups of some of the players in the first team gave him the chance of a debut against Atlético Madrid on October 6, 2001 at the Estadio Bernabéu.

In his first season with Real Madrid B, Raúl Bravo ended up training with the first team manager, Vicente Del Bosque very often. The coaching team thought he has earned a place in the first team for the coming season (2002-03).

In 2003 he had a very unsuccessful spell on loan at Leeds United, however in the European championships, in 2004, Mick McCarthy, whilst commentating for the BBC, remarked that he looked a different player to the one Leeds fans had seen. Roberto Carlos' presence has however restricted his playing time in the Real first team. He has so far (summer 2007) been capped on 14 occasions by Spain.

Raul Bravo will wear the red and white jersey of Olympiakos for the next four years. The transfer fee has been estimated in the region of € 2,3 million, while the player will have an annual salary of € 1,3 million. This transfer marked the first time a Real Madrid player moved directly to a Greek team.

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