His playstyle with nearly 0 defensive duties certainly helped his longevity
He isn’t Haaland, Mbappe or a random 9, he actually plays in the middle of the pitch and falls back consistently. I think the main reason he stayed healthy apart from being professional is because he could just dribble and move faster and more efficiently than anyone else so he just avoided being physically dominated by other players going after his legs.
He walks more than all of those. Messi has been noted to simply stand still or walk since at least 2014, after he got a few pretty bad injuries in a roll (culminating with Barcelona getting destroyed by Bayern Munchen in the UCL with him in the bench). It’s when he went from Gazelle 2012 Messi that sprinted all over the place to his current “energy-saving” form. This hit adds up, the man has run and has been fatigued significantly less than other players of similar age.
He isn’t Haaland, Mbappe or a random 9, he actually plays in the middle of the pitch and falls back consistently. I think the main reason he stayed healthy apart from being professional is because he could just dribble and move faster and more efficiently than anyone else so he just avoided being physically dominated by other players going after his legs.
He walks more than all of those. Messi has been noted to simply stand still or walk since at least 2014, after he got a few pretty bad injuries in a roll (culminating with Barcelona getting destroyed by Bayern Munchen in the UCL with him in the bench). It’s when he went from Gazelle 2012 Messi that sprinted all over the place to his current “energy-saving” form. This hit adds up, the man has run and has been fatigued significantly less than other players of similar age.