Tuesday, June 27 2006 18:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hanover: French football legend Zinedine Zidane will play his last ever match on Tuesday if Spain's veteran striker Raul has anything to do with it.

Raul is not certain to start but on the eve of the World Cup last 16 match the 28-year-old declared that he and Spain would make France suffer and hopefully bring down the curtain on his former Real Madrid team-mate's glittering career.



"We hope that for the good of Spain, this will be the last match for Zidane," said Raul, who was dropped from the first group match but started the last one against Saudi Arabia and has played in the first team at training since the 1-0 win over the Saudis.

"'Zizou' is a truly great player. However France won its last match (beating Togo 2-0) without him. One should not forget that France played well with other players," he said.

Raul said he was confident that Spain would show against France that they were genuine title contenders.

"If we have possession of the ball, we can do a lot of damage, even if there are great players on the other team," said Raul, who has had a terrible time of it with injuries over the past three seasons.

"In the first round France did not really show their true worth, but she has players capable of putting together a great match," he said.

"Now against France we are going to show that we are capable of being world champions," he said.

"We want to be like they were, crowned the world's best team," he said.

"Our team has very clear ideas of how to control the ball and keep it," he said.

"When we used not to have the ability to keep the ball we suffered, now we are going to make France suffer," added Raul, who does not have happy memories of the last time the two countries met in a major tournament.

He blasted a penalty over the bar in their Euro 2000 quarter-final clash.

Raul said he based his confidence on the fact that this squad was the strongest World Cup finals one he had been associated with having been at the 1998 and 2002 editions, exiting in the first round and then the quarter-finals respectively.

"I have never seen a squad so packed with quality," said Raul, who scored in the 3-1 victory over Tunisia in the group stage.

"For the coach, talent is a premium and we have a good mix of young talent and experienced players," he said.

"This World Cup will be that of Spain's. We have a unique opportunity in our grasp, with France, then Brazil if they beat Ghana and then England," he said.

"It is imperative that we give 100 percent, and even more than that because that will not be enough, if we are to dream about lifting the Cup," he said.

Raul was in such a relaxed mood that he even had time to joke about the fact his 29th birthday falls on the day of the match.

"It is strange to still be here. Normally we are gone by the 24th or 25th," he said laughing.