Bundesliga
Robert Lewandowski: "I don't feel like I'm nearly 31!"
Robert Lewandowski will turn 31 shortly after the new Bundesliga season gets under way in August, but the Bayern Munich goal machine says he can envisage playing at the top level for at least another four years.
Lewandowski scored 22 Bundesliga goals in 2018/19 to secure his third top scorer's prize in four years. The Pole also overtook Claudio Pizarro as the German top flight's record foreign marksman.
Currently on 202 Bundesliga goals and counting, Bayern's prolific No.9 has never missed more than four matches of a single 34-game league season since moving to Germany with Borussia Dortmund in summer 2010, and sees no reason why he should even think about slowing down into his 30s.
"I want to play for at least another four years," Lewandowski said ahead of his 10th campaign of Bundesliga football. "I don't feel like I'm about to turn 31.
"I'll try to make the most of my time, and that means keeping myself in the best shape possible."
Watch: All 22 of Lewandowski's 22 Bundesliga goals in 2018/19
Lewandowski should have little trouble on that front. The former Znicz Pruszkow and Lech Poznan forward was nicknamed 'The Body' during his 103-goal spell at Dortmund, on account of his lean, muscular physique.
His wife, Anna, is a nutrition specialist, while Pep Guardiola - who coached the Poland captain in two of his three seasons at the Bayern helm - once said of the striker: "He's the most professional player I've ever worked with."
Such is Lewandowski's commitment to his craft, he even starts meals by eating dessert followed by a main and finishing with a starter, with a view to burning fat more quickly and optimising his energy levels.
"A football career doesn't last that long," Lewandowski said. "Everything I do should help me to keep playing."
Lewandowski is currently in the USA - not tucking into a Man vs. Food challenge, but on Bayern's summer tour of the USA.
The record champions face AC Milan in midweek with their prized No.9 already having hit the net against Arsenal and Real Madrid, before returning to Germany to prepare for the Supercup showdown with Dortmund on 3 August.
After facing Bundesliga 2 outfit Energie Cottbus in the DFB Cup first round a week later, Bayern begin the new Bundesliga campaign at home to Hertha Berlin, in pursuit of a record-extending eighth successive league title, on 16 August.
Lewandowski has struck double figures in all but one of his nine seasons of Bundesliga football to date (his first), hitting or breaking the 20-goal barrier six times and registering 30-goal hauls twice in succession in 2015/16 and 2016/17.
The 30-year-old is currently fifth in the Bundesliga's all-time scoring charts (202), but will climb above Manfred Bürgstaller (212) and Jupp Heynckes (220) if he nets 19 goals or more in 2019/20.
Klaus Fischer (268) is second, some way behind Bayern and Germany legend Gerd Müller, who served up 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga appearances between 1965 and 1979.