What a day! What a match! What an incredible bit of La Liga history! At the ripe “old” age of 38, the Real Betis team captain, Joaquin, did something no one of that age has ever accomplished. He scored three goals, commonly called a hat trick, against league rival Athletic Bilbao in a game on 8th December that Betis went on to win by a score of 3 to 1.

The Veteran Comes Through

The amazing feat makes Joaquin the oldest competitor to score a hat trick in the long history of La Liga football. It only took two minutes of play for the mid-fielder to get busy racking up the points. With one strike already on the board, the team leader waited just nine more minutes before zapping another ball into the net for his next goal.

Coincidence?

Then, again precisely nine minutes later, Joaquin nailed another. The phenomenal day for the player marked the first hat trick of his career. This season, he had already amassed three goals before the spectacular game against Athletic Bilbao. Betis is Joaquin’s boyhood team, on which he began his long, successful career. It’s fitting that he is now finishing out a renowned playing career with the very same team that gave the Spaniard his start.

One Game in a Successful Season So Far

The team currently stands at 11th among the La Liga teams for the season, boasting a record of six wins, four draws, and six losses. The team has won three of their last five games, drawn one and lost one. With 22 competition points on the board (wins count for three points, draws for one, and losses for zero) this season, Betis is just 12 points behind league leader, Barcelona.

History in the Making

The three-score meant that Joaquin bested a record for the oldest La Liga player to score a hat trick that had stood for than a half-century. In 1964, Alfredo di Stefano scored one of many career triples at age 37. It was di Stefano’s last in a career that made him a true legend of the game. Seventeen years after Alfredo put those three goals into the net in 1964, Joaquin was born.

After the historic match against Bilbao last week, the mid-fielder noted that he has never had a reputation as being a prolific goal-scorer but was quite proud to have achieved the feat against a worthy opponent like Athletic Bilbao. He jokingly pointed out that “At my age,” it’s even harder to net three goals in a single game. The hat trick was the first ever for the player who now enters the record books for the stunning accomplishment. The game itself gave quite a boost to the team’s league ranking, sending them up to the eleventh slot on the board.

A Look Ahead

With a newfound confidence, a new front of shirt sponsor Easymarkets since the start of the season, and a renewed competitive spirit, the Betis squad looks forward to the remaining games of the 2019/2020 season. With 23 games left to go, virtually anything could happen to transform the La Liga standings.