Lionel Messi’s longevity at the top of football has been linked to a strict health-focused routine he adopted after dealing with physical issues more than a decade ago, along with one long-held Argentinian habit.
Now 38 and still starring for Inter Miami and Argentina, Messi remains one of the sport’s most remarkable outliers when it comes to longevity. He has scored more than 800 official career goals, won the 2022 World Cup and continues to perform at an elite level deep into his 30s.
For a player with that kind of staying power, it’s no surprise people are curious about how he keeps himself in such strong condition.
While talent has always been central to Messi’s success, the way he fuels and looks after his body appears to have played a major role too.
Many professional footballers begin winding down their careers by their mid-30s, according to Jobs in Football, but Messi has continued well beyond that point.
Anyone hoping to follow his example should know his routine is far from relaxed. His reported diet removes plenty of foods that many people would struggle to give up.
Still, the results seem hard to argue with.
Italian nutritionist Giuliano Poser started working with Messi in 2014. At that time, reports said his diet still included items such as soda and chocolate, while he was also dealing with vomiting episodes and soft tissue injuries, per VT.
Poser then built a plan around five staple foods that he believed could improve Messi’s physical condition and help prolong his career.
Those essentials were water, olive oil, whole grains, fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. According to reports, sugary drinks were removed entirely, and foods like pizza were replaced with healthier alternatives.
Speaking about the approach, Poser said:
“Also very good are nuts and seeds,” Poser explained the Independent.
He was equally firm on what needed to be avoided.
“[Sugar] is the worst thing for the muscles. The farther he stays away from sugars, the better,” he continued. “Refined flours are also a big problem as these days, it’s difficult to find uncontaminated wheat.”
Poser also warned against eating too much meat, arguing that it can be difficult to digest, particularly in the quantities often consumed in Argentina and Uruguay.
“The amount of meat normally eaten by Argentinians and Uruguayans is too much, as it is difficult to digest.
Reports via VT claim that Messi has gone 12 years without pizza or soda, and that the dietary changes helped bring an end to both his vomiting problems and his soft tissue injuries.
When criticism of the plan came up, Poser defended it confidently.
“My methods are not in doubt, everyone can see Leo week in, week out.”
Diet is only part of the picture, though. Messi also reportedly begins each morning with yerba mate, drinking it from a gourd he has owned since childhood.
The traditional drink is often seen as a natural alternative to coffee, and Messi described its place in his life during a 2019 interview with Marca.
“I like a hot and bitter mate. I used to drink it sweet, but then I got used to the bitterness and I drink it like that.”
For anyone thinking about copying Messi’s routine, it would mean embracing a far stricter lifestyle than most people are used to.
But for Messi, that discipline seems to have helped extend a career that has already rewritten football history and is still going strong.