Ask Noussair Mazraoui how he succeeded in playing so many games in his first season at Manchester United, and he believes that giving up carbonated drinks has been more important than a heart procedure.
Mazraoui was treated after the break in Aston Villa in October after he had experienced palpitations. He had previously taken a break of football while in 2023 he was in Bayern Munich due to inflammation of heart tissue caused by Covid.
The 27-year-old Moroccan, however, was back for the next game of United and has hardly missed a missing because he has picked up 55 performances than any other player next to Captain Bruno Fernandes. Last month, Mazraoui surpassed the number of minutes he succeeded in two seasons in Bayern.
It is a surprising statistics considering the heart issue. “That's a long time ago, it feels like centuries ago,” he says. 'No, everything was fine. It was like nothing big or huge, nothing that was worth mentioning.
'It made no difference with it or without. But personally I managed to play a lot of minutes and played in different positions. I personally think I did quite well on average.
“You would say it's strange to play even more games. I have changed some things, some small details. I think that the top of football, details really matter. '
So what is his secret then?
“Just something small. I no longer drink soft drinks. Yes, carbonated drinks. It changes a lot, I think, because the sugar, you no longer get it in your body. So only water ultimately makes a huge difference.
“It was just to try to see if there is a difference. It is really nice to have a small drink at dinner, but sugar is really bad for your body. '
Mazraoui is not a joke when he says that this season he played in many positions after reunification with Erik ten Hag in the summer, member of United From Bayern in a deal with a value of a maximum of £ 17 million.
Seven by the last count, mainly as a wing back or part of a back-hot since Ruben Amorim replaced ten hag in November. It included an appearance as a no. 10 against Fenerbahce in October, two games after the heart procedure.
“That was a surprise,” laughs Mazraoui. “I did it a long time ago. But to be honest, I am surprised that you tell me that I played in seven positions. I didn't know that.
'It has been a long season, a difficult season. In a season where you win everything, you get into a kind of stream. You can kick me, I won't feel it. But if you lose a lot of games, you just give me a small step sharp and you have a lot of pain. It is a big difference.
“After playing so many games, I didn't do that often in my career, so you will of course feel it a bit in the body.”
The departure of ten hag at the end of October was particularly difficult for Mazraoui who won three titles and two Doubles among the Dutchman at Ajax.
“Really, I wasn't happy with that,” he adds. 'Getting a manager fired is always a sense of disappointment. You also feel it as a player.
“I was disappointed about that in myself and everyone was, I think. That was not the most lucky part.
'I have always been pretty good with Erik. It is not that I talk to him every week, but I just sent him a SMS once or twice more. Like, how is it as a person, because it's not just about football. '
Amorim has been a different kind of boss. Not only the change in the system, but also the brutal honesty about the shortcomings of United in public. Can that be difficult for a player to hear?
“No, not for me personally, because that's how I am,” says Mazraoui. 'I don't hide behind anything, and that is the manager.
“He takes responsibility. He knows that he is the head of the club in the end because he is the manager. That is something I like about him.
“He is really honest, really simple. He doesn't hid for anything. '
That brings us at the Europa League final on Wednesday against Tottenham in Bilbao and the chance to lift a trophy and qualify for the Champions League at the end of a season that one of these two large clubs could see in one place above the relegation zone.
“It is of course a strange feeling,” says Mazraoui. 'As a player you have had a great season in the Europa League, but one of the worst seasons in the Premier League.
'Can you be happy? Even if you win, do you have to stay sad? Be sad? You are somewhere in between because you are happy that you have won a prize, but on the other hand it is always this feeling of a competition in which you have failed.
'Winning a trophy is never easy. At the end of your career, you look back on this season, you will be proud of winning the Europa League – if we win on Wednesday – more than you will look at the failure in the Premier League. You can certainly be proud. '
The difference between the form of United in the Premier League and Europa League has confused the players themselves. Unbeated in Europe compared to a club record 18 domestic defeats.
'That is something very difficult to say, because we were always in the Europa League to eventually win. We can do that in the Premier League, “says Mazraoui.
'I think the biggest example is Lyon, where we were almost dead in the last 10 minutes of the (quarter -final) game. Extra time, everyone is tired and such, and it is still possible to win.
'We have that kind of fighting spirit in the Europa League that we might miss in the Premier League.
“I can't really tell you what the reasons for that are, because that is something mentally and something in the mindset that should be there, but often this season wasn't.”