Real Madrid Legend Raul Takes Dig At FC Barcelona: ‘We Have The Best Academy In The World’

Real Madrid legend Raul Gonzalez took a dig at his club’s bitter rival FC Barcelona by claiming that Los Blancos have the best youth academy in the world.

The former striker currently oversees Madrid’s Castilla outfit, which is essentially the reserve team and a bridge between the academy known as “La Fabrica” and Carlo Ancelotti’s senior squad.

Following his side’s 2-1 loss to Antequera at the weekend, Raul was asked about Ancelotti’s use of near namesake Raul Asencio in the first team’s recent 4-0 win over Osasuna.

The 21-year-old entered the fray when Eder Militao became the second of three men to pick up injuries in the first half, and he made an immediate impact by providing an assist for Jude Bellingham’s first goal of the season.

Raul said it was a “great joy” to see Asencio being trusted by Ancelotti when probed on the subject.

“The other day he had his chance and he did very well. In the next few days he will be one more of the first team and I am very happy because he is a player who has fought a lot to be where he is. Now he has to continue, part of the work is already done and now it has to be maintained,” Raul added.

On more opportunities being afforded to La Fabrica and Castilla prospects, Raul said: “Madrid’s youth academy is ready, we just need the opportunities to come [and] some circumstances [to occur].

“At other clubs they have arrived for others, and in Madrid it has been shown that we have the best academy in the world. If they can’t achieve their goal in the first team, I’m sure they will do it at a professional level in different parts of the world.”

That claim about Madrid having the best academy in the world has been taken as a dig at Barca and its La Masia equivalent which has produced the likes of Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta in the past without mentioning Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi in the present.

Raul’s claim has opened up debate about which club has the best academy in Spain, with Jose Luis Sanchez saying via Radio MARCA that “the best youth academy is the one that fulfils the projection that the club has”.

“If you get €300 million ($317 million) for players you have raised and trained at Real Madrid’s training ground, it is an elite youth academy because the elite is to reach the First Division (i.e. La Liga)”.

At the same time, Emilio Perez de Rozas stressed that “it is as important to have a youth academy as a coach who dares to put them in”.

“It seems that Carlo Ancelotti does not believe too much in the academy,” Perez de Rozas further claimed.