Real Betis’ Joaquin becomes sixth player ever to reach 600 La Liga games
December 1, 2020 8:58:44 pm
Joaquin made his first-ever La Liga appearance in September 2000. (Reuters)
On September 3, 2000, Joaquín Sánchez Rodríguez made his first-ever LaLiga appearance, doing so in Real Betis’ goalless draw away at Compostela in LaLiga SmartBank, Spain’s second tier. At the time, few would have expected that match to be so significant 20 years later, but it launched one of the most thrilling careers in the history of Spanish football.
Fast forward twenty years to November 30, 2020, Joaquín made his 600th LaLiga appearance as Real Betis hosted SD Eibar in LaLiga Santander, a feat that only five other players have achieved before him. More than two decades on, the fresh-faced teenager has become a captain, shareholder, and legend of Real Betis.
This tale started when he was 16 years old and moved from Cádiz’s academy to Real Betis in 1997. It was finishing school for the youngster and, just three years later, he was the creative spark of a young Real Betis team that won promotion back to LaLiga Santander level. Most memorably, he helped Real Betis to Copa del Rey glory in 2004/05, an achievement that meant so much that the club president brought the trophy to Joaquín’s wedding that summer.
The 39-year-old winger hasn’t spent his entire career in the green and white of Real Betis, with the middle decade of his career spent at Valencia, Málaga, and Fiorentina. But since his return to the Benito Villamarín in 2015, he has been the leader of the club in almost every sense. He still has his famous “la finta y el sprint” – “the feint and the sprint” – on the pitch, while he is also now a true leader of Los Verdiblancos, wearing the captain’s armband and owning shares in the club worth over one million euros. “It’s a way of paying back the club and fans for what they’ve given me,” he said at the time of his investment in 2017.
