In the maelstrom of the World Cup in Qatar, there are many runrunes that open up when it comes to talking about eating or taking care of oneself that dot soccer players and coaches, aware of the importance of nutrition on their bodies.
Gone are the times when there was only talk of eating pasta to generate carbohydrates and have energy and far beyond drinking cognac to warm up, as footballers from the 70s and 80s have sometimes claimed.
Football times change and with it the way you take care of yourself also changes, which is why seeing that there are currently footballers who are over 35 years of age with considerable solvency and that they do not think about retirement is increasingly common.
Examples like Joaquín Sánchez, 40 years old and still giving quality minutes at Betis; Cristiano Ronaldo, now without a team, but with 37 years; Zlatan Ibrahimovic, AC Milan forward, 41 years old; or Luka Modric, also 37 years old and still fighting at Real Madrid are examples of that longevity that was unthinkable in the elite a few years ago.
Eating affects, of course; but we are going to open the season to those oddities that occur in the world of football to understand the reason for performance of its protagonists although, sometimes, they have more to do with the rest of the environment than the diet itself.
Half a dozen eggs for dinner: Luis Enrique
In one of his popular streams during the World Cup, the Spanish coach Luis Enrique talked about he had eaten six eggs in one night: three fried eggs and three boiledwhich was accompanied by green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes and yogurt.
The alarm was raised due to the bad reputation that had followed the egg until not too long ago, which He was accused of having high cholesterol levelsbut we see that in the way Luis Enrique ingests them, always understood from a person who does sports continuously —the Asturian is a seasoned runner and cyclist—doesn’t have to be a dietary disorder.
T-bone steak with orange juice
One of the best ways to maximize the use of iron that meat has is to accompany it with products with vitamin C, which favor the absorption of this micronutrient that helps to produce hemoglobin and myoglobin and that will make the transport and storage of oxygen in the body more efficient.
That is why we are not surprised that one of the footballers who has had the most fame for taking care of his diet had the healthy although extravagant occurrence of eat steaks and drink orange juice.
We don’t know if it makes a lot of sense at the level of pairing, but the reality is that it was a habit that Cristiano Ronaldo had during his time at Real Madrid, something that the chef explained to us Inigo Urrechuwho received the Portuguese and other Real Madrid footballers at the grill that he runs in the Zoco Pozuelo Shopping Center, very close to the La Finca urbanization, where many personalities and athletes reside.
Haaland’s Norwegian offal
1.94 meters, almost 90 kilos… The physical definition of Erling Braut Haaland, Norwegian striker for Manchester City and top scorer in the Premier League, scares when he gallops into the rival field and his diet and hunger for goals may have a lot to do with his Nordic culture.
Almost a Viking in gastronomy is this lanky player who surprised the world when in the documentary Haaland: The Big Decision, explained his diet. Skinny in his youth days, the former German Borussia Dortmund player changed his diet to gain muscle at the expense of chicken, pasta, fish, vegetables and do not use oil or salt.
However, the bombshell jumped when he declared frequently eat offal like liver and cow hearts. Beyond the casquero objection, the reality is that the Norwegian diet has the same meaning as when our grandmothers tried to make us commune with these nutritious offal.
In a world plant-baseda speech like Haaland’s may surprise, but the reality is that the top scorer of the Premier League seems to have it clear when he assured “eating quality and local food is the most important thing”, not caring that “people say that meat is bad, but which one? The one they eat at McDonald’s or the one from local cows that are grazing right there? “.
Leo Messi, the Argentine who said goodbye to sweets and roasts
In a good moment within the French PSG and with the Argentine team, Leo Messi radically changed his diet in 2014 after visiting a nutritionist who, apparently, is responsible for the star of the albiceleste still gives football war with 35 years.
On several occasions, the Argentine star has recalled the bad moments of the 2014 World Cup, where their pre-game arcades went around the world. After those scenes, it was not repeated again and a large part of the culprits lay in what he ate, which also came with a series of muscle injuries that would not be repeated again.
Argentinian alfajores.
The daily intake of the Argentine was loaded at that time with sugars such as chocolate, alfajores, sweetened drinks and dulce de leche, besides consuming fried often. A behavior that nipped in the bud and now makes it clear that the fight against refined sugars and flours has been successful.
Sergio Ramos’ protein boom
The Sevillian Sergio Ramos, now Leo Messi’s teammate at Paris Saint Germain, is another of those examples of healthy body football and another of those who justify that at 36 he can continue in the elite of football.
An example of perseverance, the Andalusian center-back has already He talked about a protein diet in his time at Real Madridwhere he endorsed training on an empty stomach, the consumption of protein shakes and, above all, then ingesting quality proteins such as tuna or beef, as well as unsaturated fats where the Spanish defender it mentioned pine nuts, chia, avocado and olive oil.
Marcos Llorente’s paleo diet
He does not reach the ages of the rest of those mentioned, but the footballer Marcos Llorente, currently at Atlético de Madrid, is another of those Stakhanovists of food in football and one of the most recurring examples of the new batch of players concerned about their diet.
The Madrid midfielder has explained on several occasions that he follows a Paleolithic diet, that is, the one in which you can only eat products that a primitive collector could obtain such as meat, fish, chicken or nuts. Outside of this are dairy products, sugars and fruit intake, which he only eats for breakfast.
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Also, train on an empty stomach and only has two intakes a day: lunch and dinner. Another example of the football diet that, with his nuances, adapts to the 21st century, since we do not expect Marcos Llorente to have to go hunting for his own food. Paleolithic yes, but without going too far.
Images | Gtres / iStock
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