That football players begin their decline once they hit 30 has become something of an obsolete statement – try telling that to Barcelona’s Luis Suarez, who has just reached that golden age.
More and more players nowadays are still in excellent shape and, in fact, there are some cases where, like wine, they improve over the years.
Xavi Hernandez is a particularly good example.
On Tuesday, Suarez celebrated his 30th birthday and, far from showing signs of exhaustion during games, seems to be enjoying the best moment of his career.
The best centre-forward in the world, he has his Golden Boot and a presence in the FIFA Team of the Year to evidence his prowess, and he’s also the only player that is matching teammate Lionel Messi for this season’s Pichichi.
At club level, he has already won everything and he secured the Copa America title in 2011with the Uruguayan national team.
Thus, it could be said that the only trophy that is missing from his cabinet is a World Cup with La Celeste.
However, that hasn’t made him any less hungry for trophies with Barcelona.
With a contract renewal that has been virtually signed, the Uruguayan will stay with the Catalans until he is 34, which clearly demonstrates that his club still expect him to perform well in the coming seasons.
Veterans and winners
The history of football is full of examples of players who, when over 30, won great titles with their teams, equally there are also cases of players who experienced a spectacular downturn.
If Suarez continues taking care of himself as he has done to this point, and if he’s lucky with injuries, his level of performance is unlikely to diminish significantly in the next few years.
Di Stefano, Puskas, Muller, Eusebio…in the case of the first three, they won European Cups after their thirtieth birthdays.
We don’t even have to go that far back because there are also similar cases in modern football, and with players that Barcelona know well, like David Villa, (two LaLiga titles), Ronaldinho (one), Eto’o, who won the cup in Italy and Romario, with two titles for Brazil.
Not forgetting those whose career was more or less truncated at that age.
Marco Van Basten, for example, wasn’t an active player by the time he reached 30 because of injuries and legends such as Karl-Heinz Rumenigge and Paolo Rossi never came close to playing professionally at that age.
Marca.com
