Croatia's best footballer, Luka Modric, has joined the list of the top 10 players with the most appearances in the history of Real Madrid, after he played in the Valencia-Real Madrid match on Friday evening.

Modric has become also his club’s oldest scorer.

“It’s always nice to break records,” said Modric to the club’s television channel, Real Madrid TV, after the 2-1 away victory against Valencia.

At the Mestalla Stadium, the home of Valencia, this Croatian midfielder played his 561st match for Real, matching the number of appearances made by former midfielders José Martínez Sánchez, known as “Pirri,” and Michel.

“I’m proud of having reached this number of appearances and of being level with legends like Pirri and Michel. I need to keep going like this,” the Croatian midfielder, who has been playing for the “Royal Club” since 2012, has said.

At the top of the list is forward Raúl González, who made 741 appearances during his career in Madrid. Modric is the second foreign player in terms of appearances, behind French forward Karim Benzema, who played 648 matches for the Spanish champions.

In terms of the number of goals, on Friday Modric scored his 40th goal for Real Madrid. At the age of 39 years and 116 days, he became the oldest player to score for Real Madrid, surpassing Ferenc Puskás, who had previously achieved this feat at the age of 39 years and 15 days.