Injury ends record La Liga run of appearances for Ghana star Inaki Williams

Inaki Williams’ La Liga record run of 251 consecutive games for Athletic Bilbao has come to an end after the Ghanaian forward picked up a rare injury.

The 28-year-old was forced to sit out his side’s 1-0 defeat at Celta on Sunday having been forced off through injury in the 88th minute of the 3-1 Copa del Rey victory at Valencia last Thursday.

Williams’ run of games began when he came off the bench in the second half of a 1-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid in 2016 in which former Liverpool and Chelsea striker Fernando Torres scored the only goal.

The northern Spanish club confirmed in a tweet: “(Williams) had not missed a match since April 20, 2016. Yesterday (Sunday) he was unable to play against Celta due to muscle overload.”

Williams made one appearance for the Spanish senior team in a friendly against Bosnia in 2016 with his last appearances coming at the Euro Under-21 Championships in 2017.

The Bilbao-born player sealed a 3-1 victory against rivals Portugal in the group stage but Spain were eventually defeated by Germany in the final with Williams coming on as a second half substitute.

Having failed to win a further call up to the Spanish senior squad, Williams switched allegiances to the country of his parents, Ghana, ahead of the Qatar World Cup making his debut in a 3-0 friendly defeat by Brazil in September 2022.

Williams started all three matches in Qatar but failed to score as Ghana were eliminated at the group stage following 2-0 defeat by Uruguay.

💥 Iñaki Williams fija en 2⃣5⃣1⃣ partidos consecutivos el récord de participación en @LaLiga

No se había perdido un encuentro desde el 20 de abril de 2016. Ayer no pudo jugar ante el @rccelta por una sobrecarga muscular.

✊🏿 Egurre, @Williaaams45! #AthleticClub 🦁 pic.twitter.com/wqYADi0NrO

— Athletic Club (@AthleticClub) January 30, 2023

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