Griezmann overtakes Messi to become the most-capped foreigner in Spain's top flight

Frenchman Antoine Griezmann, Atletico Madrid striker, overtook Lionel Messi to become only the most-capped foreign player in the 96-year history of the Spanish top flight, with 521 appearances in total between his current club Barcelona and Real Sociedad.

The striker, the top scorer in the Colchonero club's history, started in Diego Simeone's line-up for the clash against Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium, where he reached that milestone. "Atleti legend. Legend of LaLiga. Football legend," Atletico celebrated on their official channels as the 29th game kicked off.  

No other non-Spanish national has played more games in this competition than Griezmann, with 521, since his top flight debut for Real Sociedad on 29 August 2010, at the age of 19, when he came on in the 62nd minute for Sutil in their 1-0 win over Villarreal at Anoeta. His coach was Martín Lasarte, who started Griezmann's journey in the Primera Division.

'El Principito' made 141 league appearances for Real Sociedad, scoring 41 goals and providing 10 assists between 2010 and 2014. He then signed for Atlético de Madrid, where he played 306 league games under Simeone, scoring 136 goals in two different periods. One from 2014 to 2019 and the other from 2021 to the present. In between, he played two years at Barcelona, with a total of 74 La Liga appearances, scoring 22 goals.

Griezmann leads the ranking of most foreign players' appearances in La Liga EA Sports, followed by Messi, with 520 for Barcelona; France's Karim Benzema, with 439 for Real Madrid; Croatia's Ivan Rakitic, with 438 between Barcelona and Sevilla; and Brazil's Dani Alves, with 436 also between the two teams. The Atletico Madrid striker is also the 9th player, whatever his nationality, with the most appearances in the Primera Division.

His 521 appearances are behind the 622 of Andoni Zubizarreta and Joaquín Sanchez; the 609 of Raul García; the 550 of Raul González; the 543 of Eusebio Sacristán; the 542 of Paco Buyo; the 536 of Sergio Ramos; and the 523 of Manolo Sanchís. Of all of them, he is the only one still active in the competition. His contract with the Rojiblanco club runs until June 2026.