Mertens breaks Rui Patrício’s Europa League record
Belgian played his 70th game in the competition and surpassed the Portuguese goalkeeper
Dries Mertens was a starter in Galatasaray ‘s reception to Dynamo Kiev , counting for the penultimate round of the Europa League league stage , and even assisted on the first goal of the match, by Davinson Sánchez , after just six minutes, but the highlight was another.
The Belgian became the player with the most games played in the history of the competition, surpassing a Portuguese player… Rui Patrício , who has 69 games, now one less than the ex- Napoli player , and who, this season, is playing in the Champions League, in the service of Atalanta .
The 37-year-old striker is at the end of his career – he has a contract with the Turks until the end of the season -, but there is still time to increase his record, especially since his team is practically classified in the round of 16 of the tournament. In those 70 games, Mertens accumulated 18 goals and 24 assists for Galatasaray , Napoli , PSV and Utrecht .
