I struggled going from Real Madrid to Leeds United but found my calling card as an interior designer

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Raul Bravo failed to impress at Leeds United but went on to enjoy a successful playing career.

Raul Bravo’s loan move to Leeds United in 2003 is not reflected on fondly by many but the left-back went on to enjoy success - both in football and later life.

Bravo’s arrival from Real Madrid in January of that year went somewhat under the radar at Leeds, with supporters far more focused on outgoing business that month. Then-chairman Peter Ridsdale regularly insisted the club’s ‘crown jewels’ would not be sold but the mid-season window saw Lee Bowyer, Olivier Dacourt, Robbie Fowler and most notably Jonathan Woodgate shipped off.

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Joining Leeds during that period was no walk in the park as tension increased with manager Terry Venables unable to control transfers, but he could at least offer Bravo the kind of regular football that wasn’t on offer in Madrid. And it was that promise that convinced the left-back to head to West Yorkshire.

“The [Madrid] coach looked after me and gave me confidence, but competing with Roberto Carlos was impossible because he was the best in the world in his position,” Bravo recently told AS. “I had the offer from Leeds and the club understood it.

“I was already starting to play with the national team and I needed to play more to be able to go to the Euros in Portugal in 2004. In the summer of 2003 I returned to Madrid and with [Carlos] Queiroz I played as a starter almost from the first day. Everyone knows how difficult it is to play for Real Madrid, but that season I played about 50 games in all competitions.”

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Bravo enjoyed a spell of regular starts under Venables but failed to impress, with five of his six appearances ending in defeat before the Leeds boss was sacked in March. New boss Peter Reid subsequently dropped the Spaniard but something must have gone well, with a return to Madrid that summer leading to a regular starting spot.

Bravo would get his wish by playing every minute of Spain’s Euro 2004 campaign before leaving Madrid in 2007. He enjoyed a successful four years with Olympiacos before shorter spells in Spain, Belgium and Greece. The 43-year-old has now retired and instead of moving into coaching or punditry, has decided to pursue a passion outside of football.

“When I hung up my boots I said to myself: ‘What do I do now?’ When you stop playing football, the first year is very complicated,” the former Leeds loanee added. “You don’t even know where you are. A very bad feeling. It happens to all players. I liked decorating houses, thinking about them and designing them. But when a client came they asked me where I had studied and what training I had. I told them: ‘Nowhere.’ It was complicated.

“With the money I had saved I bought several houses and decorated them my way, with my ideas and my inspiration. I renovated them and then made my catalogue and uploaded it to my Instagram. It must be that people liked it because I started selling them. I have cool work. It’s my calling card as a decorator and interior designer. And the houses work, my friend. There is light, hot water… (he smiles).”

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