After becoming the oldest player to record an assist in the history of the Europa League in February, the winger of the Spanish first division Real Betis Joaquin (41) broke another record by becoming the oldest scorer in this competition.
On Thursday, Real Betis defeated Ludogorets 3-2, in the match of the 2nd round of Group C of the Europa League, and the second goal for the Spanish team was scored by Joaquin. At 41 years and 56 days, Joaquín is now officially the oldest player to score in this competition.
– Before the start of the competition, I told my teammates that no matter what I do, I will become a record holder because there are not too many players in the Europa League at my age – he said with a smile to Uefa.
He held the previous record Daniel Hestad who scored for Molde in November 2015 at the age of 40 years and 98 days. Jorge Molina scored for Getafe at 38 years and 324 days, and in the TOP five are David Catala from AEK Larnaca at 38 years and 224 days, and Walter Samuel, then from FC Basel at the age of 37 years and 333 days.
– I am happy that I can still play at this level, and scoring a goal is always nice, especially in Europe – he added.
This is not the first record that Joaquin achieved in this competition. Back in February, he was declared the oldest player to ever assist a goal in the Europa League – he was then 40 years and 211 days old.
Joaquin started his career in Real Betis, then played for Valencia, Malaga and Fiorentina, and returned to Betis in 2015.
He played for the Spanish national team from 2002 to 2007, making 51 appearances and scoring four goals.