Betis midfielder Joaquín Sánchez reached 550 matches in the Primera División this Saturday against Atlético Madrid, making him the second player with the most league games played in history, tied with Raúl González and only surpassed by Andoni Zubizarreta (622).
Joaquín, who entered the pitch in the 70th minute in place of the Portuguese William Carvalho but could not avoid the defeat of his team 1-0 against the rojiblanco team, equaled this Saturday the mark of Raúl González, who will most likely overcome in the two remaining days of LaLiga Santander.
The 550 league games at the end of Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz) are divided between the 335 duels played with Betis, in two stages (2001-2006 and from 2015 to the present), 158 duels with Valencia between 2006 and 2011, and 57 encounters with Málaga between 2011 and 2013.
Among all of them, the Cádiz winger has scored 76 goals and delivered 57 assists, in addition to establishing his own stamp of dribbling and unbalanced game seasoned with a characteristic sympathy that have made him one of the most appreciated footballers by all fans.
550 duels spread over seventeen seasons, with a parenthesis of two campaigns in which he played the Italian Serie A with Fiorentina, where he played 49 matches in the Italian championship, scored four goals and delivered ten assists.
A career that has allowed him to be international with the Spanish national team on 51 occasions, with which he played the 2002 World Cups in South Korea and Japan and 2006 in Germany; and the 2004 Eurocup in Portugal.
Exceeded this statistical level, the top of the record for the most league games is still far away, the 622 matches played by goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta between 1981 and 1998 (between Athletic, Barcelona and Valencia). Everything will depend on how long Joaquín can extend the route of “the feint and the sprint” in the League.