‘224 matches in a row; Never injured, never suspended, never left out’: Inaki Williams sets new La Liga record after featuring in every league game for Atletico Bilbao in the last 6 years
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Inaki Williams has set up a new record for himself as he has played in all La Liga matches for his club, Atletico Bilbao in the last six consecutive years. With his place on the teamsheet verified for the game, the winger officially passed the six-time mark since he last missed a league match for Los Leones, and he extended his own Spanish top-flight record to continuously featuring in 224 league matches.
This means that Inaki Williams hasn’t skipped a single La Liga game through injury, suspension or non-selection -a phenomenal achievement for any player, and especially for an attacker.
Unfortunately, he was unfit to cap his momentous appearance with a palm to fit as his platoon fell to a 2-0 home defeat to Celta at San Mames which included a ridiculous long-range strike from Fran Beltran.
His achievement is made all the more noteworthy by the fact that he is still only 27-years-old at the moment, meaning he hasn’t missed a single league game for Bilbao since he turned 21 during his first full season as part of the first team at the Basque club.
Williams has made one appearance for Spain at the senior level, which came in 2016 against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Explaining the reason behind rejecting Ghana, his ancestral home, Williams, in an earlier interview with The Guardian, said, “I’m grateful to where I grew and became who I am.”
In starting the 1-0 victory over Alaves on the 1st of October last time, Inaki Willians officially surpassed the record of Larranaga of 202 consecutive La Liga games making a new record for La Liga.
Inaki Willians vs Europe
The Bilbao star, Inaki Williams, is in an exclusive club of consecutive- appearance record-holders in Europe’s top leagues, though the winger is largely rubbing shoulders with goalkeepers who played into their late 30s and beyond.
For case, the Premier League record is held by the former United States transnational Brad Friedel, who went 330 league games without missing a single league game.
Likewise, the Bundesliga record is held by a goalkeeper, videlicet Sepp Maier. The Bayern Munich legend played 442 league games on the brio between the 1966-67 and 1978-79 seasons. Meanwhile, the Serie A record for successive appearances is held by the great Dino Zoff, who tended the nets for Juventus 332 times between 1972 and 1983.
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Thomas Savio Joseph
(51 Articles Published)