At the age of 37 years and 255 days old, legendary footballer Alfredo di Stefano scored a hat-trick for Real Madrid. It took 55 years for that record to be broken.
On Sunday, Joaquin Sanchez became the oldest player to score a La Liga hat-trick, at the age of 38 years and 140 days for Real Betis.
It was quite a classy hat-trick too, scoring on the 2nd, 11th and 20th minute, less than 30 minute in the first half against Athletic Bilbao, a team that has the best defensive record in La Liga.
It is also a remarkable record as a Real Betis captain, as Joaquin achieved the hat-trick in more than 500 league appearance in La Liga.
Joaquin kick-off his career with Betis in 1999 before moving to Valencia in 2006 and to Malaga in 2011.
In 2013, he moved to Italian side Fiorentina and stayed for two season before rejoining Betis in 2015.
He was also a part of Spain’s World Cup squad in 2002 and has 51 capped for his country.
The 2002 season is probably Joaquin’s highlight career as he was named La Liga Breakthrough Player of the Year and was selected in World Cup All-Star Team 2002.
He subsequently won Copa del Ray in 2004-2005 with Betis and another Copa del Ray in 2007-2008 with Valencia.