MADRID, 6 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel has signed as a new Atlético de Madrid player for the 2022-23 season, after the agreement reached between the rojiblanco club and the former Borussia Dortmund soccer player, the rojiblanca entity announced on its official website on Wednesday.
The Belgian player began his professional stage at Standard Liège, a club he joined at the age of 9 and in which he made his professional debut in the 2006-07 season. Witsel stayed with his hometown team for five seasons in which he appeared in 194 official games.
Later, he played for Benfica in the 2011-12 season and from which he left for Zenit de San Petesburgo the following season. After 180 games spread over five courses, Witsel signed with the Chinese Tianjin Tianhai before joining Borussia Dortmund in 2018, with whom he has played 145 games, 41 of them in the 2021-22 season.
In his record, the Belgian international has won trophies 124 times in all the European clubs in which he has played: two league titles (2007-08 and 2008-09), two Belgian Super Cups (2008-09 and 2009-10) and a Belgian Cup (2011) with Standard de Liège, a League Cup with Benfica (2011-12), a Russian Premier League (2015), a Russian Cup (2016) and two Russian Super Cups (2015- 16 and 2016-17) with Zenit and a German Cup (2020-21) and a German Super Cup (2019-20) with Borussia Dortmund.
Furthermore, on an individual level, Witsel was recognized in 2008 as the best footballer in Belgium. He has played more than 600 official matches at club level, of which 77 of them correspond to the Champions League and 42 to the Europa League, in addition to having participated with Belgium in two World Cups (2014 and 2018) and in two European Championships ( 2016 and 2020).