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Real Betis' Joaquin becomes oldest scorer EVER in Europa League

  /  autty

Real Betis winger Joaquin has become the oldest goalscorer in Europa League history after scoring a stunning strike against Ludogorets on Thursday.

At 41 years and 56 days, Joaquín is now officially the oldest player in the competition to find the back of the net.

The Betis wideman never seems to show any signs of winding down his career and after Luiz Henrique had nodded Betis in front, Joaquin curled in magnificently into the top corner to make it 2-0.

Joaquin's top-corner stunner means he has overtaken Norway's Daniel Hestad in the record books.

Hestad scored for Norwegian side Molde in November 2015 at the age of 40 years and 98 days, which has now been beaten by Joaquin.

Jorge Molina at the age of 38 years and 324 days for Getafe ranks third behind Joaquin and Hestad.

AEK Larnaca's David Catala - 38 years and 224 days and Walter Samuel, then of FC Basel at the age of 37 years and 333 days, complete the top five.

It is not the first record that Joaquin has been able to toast from this competition. Back in February he was crowned the oldest player to ever assist a goal in the Europa League - then 40 years and 211 days old.

Joaquin graduated from Betis' famed youth academy in 1999 and he remained part of the furniture with Betis until 2006 when he departed for Valencia.

Spells at Malaga and Fiorentina followed before he returned to Betis in 2015 - and he has continued to deliver in big moments for them. On Thursday It turned out to be far from straightforward for Betis on the night in the end.

First, Ludogorets' Kiril Despodov reduced the deficit by one just before half-time before Brazilian star Rick set up a grandstand finish after Sergio Canales had put Betis 3-1 up.

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