Balenziaga reaches 300 appearances for Athletic

Athletic Club left-back Mikel Balenziaga made his 300th official appearance as a Lion after starting against Real Betis at San Mamés. The 33-year-old defender joins a group of just 46 players who have played 300 or more official matches in the iconic red and white stripes.

Balenziaga made his Athletic debut on September 14, 2008, starting in the LaLiga 2008/09 Matchday 2 fixture against Málaga at La Rosaleda.

Thirteen seasons later, with spells at CD Numancia and Real Valladolid in between, the full-back has reached this significant milestone. In the current Athletic first-team squad, only Iker Muniain (475), Óscar de Marcos (438) and Iñaki Williams (314) have made more appearances.

Mikel has scored twice for Athletic, both strikes coming at San Mamés. The first was against Sevilla FC in LaLiga 2016/17, while the second was against US Sassuolo in the Europa League group stages in the same season.

Breakdown of Balenziaga’s official Athletic matches, by competition:

231 in LaLiga
8 in the Champions League
28 in the Europa League
29 in the Copa del Rey
4 in the Spanish Super Cup

The 46 footballerswith more than 300 official appearances for Athletic:

José Ángel Iribar: 614
Txetxu Rojo: 541
Joseba Etxeberria: 514
Andoni Iraola: 510
Markel Susaeta: 507
Agustín ‘Piru’ Gainza: 496
José María Orue: 483
*Iker Muniain: 475
Aitor Larrazabal: 445
Nicanor Sagarduy ‘Canito’: 439
*Óscar de Marcos: 438
Julen Guerrero: 430
Estanislao Argote: 427
Ismael Urzaiz: 419
José Luis Panizo: 413
Aritz Aduriz: 407
Carmelo Cedrún: 404
Daniel Ruiz-Bazán: 402
Josu Urrutia: 401
Mikel San José: 396
Fidel Uriarte: 394
Carlos Gurpegui: 393
Gorka Iraizoz: 392
Manu Sarabia 382
Andoni Goikoetxea: 369
Ángel María Villar: 361
Antón Arieta: 358
Genar Andrinua: 356
Telmo Zarra: 354
Fran Yeste: 353
José Luis Artetxe: 348
Santi Urkiaga: 345
Koldo Etxeberria: 341
Iñaki Sáez: 338
Fernando Llorente: 333
Agustín Gisasola: 332
José Ramón Gallego: 331
Bittor Alkiza: 328
Rafael Iriondo: 326
Ander Iturraspe: 320
Pablo Orbaiz: 318
Aranguren: 318
*Iñaki Williams: 314
Argoitia: 308
Arieta I: 304
Mikel Balenziaga: 3oo

*(still playing for Athletic Club)