Date: April 19, 2008.
Time: Around 8.30 pm.
Occasion: Rajastan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils, the Royals’ first match of their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2008 campaign.
At the dressing room marked ‘Away’ at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium (before it was renamed after Arun Jaitley) in Delhi, Ravindra Jadeja looked around him trying to take in the occasion.
It had been just over a month since Jadeja and his compatriots had beaten the South African Under-19 team to capture the Under-19 Cricket World Championship for India at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At Kuala Lumpur, the Gujarat-based allrounder had been among boys he had grown up with and played against all his life. At the changing room at the Kotla however, he seemed surrounded by experienced international cricketers. There was Graeme Smith, South Africa’s all-format captain. There was Shane Watson, the golden boy of Australian cricket. Mohammad Kaif, star Indian batsman and fielder, was there. As was Sohail Tanvir, the latest up and coming pacer from Pakistan.
And then, Shane Warne.
“We were just coming out of our Under-19s and to share the dressing room with Warne was a huge thing for youngsters like us,” recalled Jadeja later.
“When I first met him in 2008, he was already a legend and I couldn’t believe that I would be playing alongside a player of Shane Warne’s stature. He gave me a huge platform and post U-19, it was a direct entry into the IPL.”
Warne himself was even more effusive in his praise of Jadeja in 2008, calling the then 19-year-old a “superstar in the making.”
During IPL 2008, which was the first edition of the Twenty20 tournament, the Royals were considered relative lightweights and few expected them to challenge for the title. However, that is precisely what they did under the captaincy of Warne, who was 38 years old at the time and had been retired from international cricket for more than a year. The 2008 title is the only IPL tournament the Royals have won so far.
Sohail Tanvir, the Pakistan pacer who won the inaugural IPL’s Purple Cap playing for the Royals by taking the most wickets, recalled meeting Warne for the first time in 2008, after the Australian great passed away last year.
“I was in Pakistan when the team manager told me ‘Shane Warne is saying that we don’t need you right now. When we do, we will call you,’” Tanvir told Capital TV, a Pakistani television channel.
Tanvir later flew to Hyderabad, where the Royals were set to play the Deccan Chargers in their third match of the tournament. “The next morning during breakfast, I met Warne for the first time. He told me ‘You have just come. You’re obviously not playing today’s match but we will see from there,” Tanvir said.
“Warne had not seen me because he had retired from international cricket and he was probably not following it much either. We went to Bangalore (to play the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their next match); he saw me in the nets playing and told me ‘Be ready’. In the next match, I bowled well and picked up 2/26. After that match, Warne came to me and said ‘you are my man’.”
Tanvir did indeed become Warne’s go-to man, as he took 22 wickets in the tournament at an economy rate of 6.46 and a strike rate of 11.20. He also hit the winning run for the Royals in the final against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Warne was at the other end when Tanvir hit the winning run.
“This was right up there with anything I’d done in the game before,” wrote Warne about the Royals’ victorious campaign in ‘No Spin‘, his autobiography.
“I’ll never, ever forget that moment. It’s a memory that lives on, almost as if it’s still happening; a memory that I can call up and see right there in front of my eyes; it’s the moment the Royals won the cup,” he wrote.
In this article, with the football season almost two-thirds out of the way, we’ll look at footballers at or over the age of 35 who have similarly defied time and sceptics this season to excel for their teams. In many cases, this year is not the first season these players have performed above their usual level: they are tremendous athletes who have been consistent throughout their careers.
To widen the net of players who can be considered, footballers who ply their trade anywhere in Europe, rather than only in the Big Five leagues, have been taken into account.
Formation: 4-3-1-2
Goalkeeper: Vicente Guaita
Club: Crystal Palace
Country: Spain
Age: 36
Season Stats: Appearances 28, Clean Sheets 6
Sir Alex Ferguson had seen enough. After the conclusion of Manchester United’s final group match against Valencia in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League season, the United manager reportedly made inquiries over signing Los Che stopper Vicente Guaita. The then 23-year-old Guaita — who was playing only because Valencia’s first two goalkeeping choices Cesar Sanchez and Miguel Angel Moya were unavailable – had pulled off a series of eye-catching saves to deny United forwards Dimitar Berbatov and Park Ji-Sung during the game, and helped Valencia pick up a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford. Ferguson was looking for a long-term successor to United Number 1 Edwin Van Der Sar, who was set to retire at the end of the 2010/11 season.
A move to Manchester did not transpire for Guaita, but he did end up in England 8 years later. Guaita has proven to be one of the most reliable goalkeepers in the Premier League since joining Palace on a free transfer from La Liga side Getafe in July 2018.
A product of the Valencia youth system, Guaita always shows a cool head even when chaos unfurls around him. He’s brave, never hesitating to put himself in the line of danger when trying to stop a goal. He also has the rare habit of always keeping his eyes on the ball even as it flits about in the Palace box. Though Palace have firmly remained a lower mid-table side ever since Guaita arrived at Selhurst Park, the Spaniard has been one of their standout players and was in the 2020-21 season named as Crystal Palace’s Player of the Year. His teammates also picked him as the Players’ Player of the Season for the same year.
“I have less and less years left (as a footballer) and I don’t know if I will have those years to return to Spain,” Guaita said in April 2022. “I would like to return to Valencia.” In January 2023, Guaita signed an extension to his contract, which will now expire in June 2024. On current form, Palace are unlikely to let Guaita swap Selhurst Park for the Mestalla in a hurry.
Right-Back: Sergio Ramos
Club: Paris Saint-Germain
Country: Spain
Age: 37
Season Stats: Appearances 36, Clean Sheets 11
The last time Ramos started a game at right-back was in October 2016 for Spain against Albania in a 2018 World Cup qualifier, in which he captained his country. Ramos has been plying his trade mainly as a centre-back for more than a decade now but for the purposes of this playing 11, we’ll slot him in once more in a position he often played in during his youth. The 2022/23 season is Ramos’ first in 3 years in which he has remained largely injury-free and available for selection. The 37-year-old Spanish great has brought his trademark physicality and warrior spirit to the French giants’ backline, which complements the cool elegance displayed on the ball by Marquinhos, his Brazilian partner at centre-back.
Ramos has even won over Lionel Messi. “At first it was weird (sharing a dressing room) after so many years of being rivals, being the two captains of Barcelona and Madrid, after so many Clasicos played, so many fights we had on the pitch,” Messi told Spanish daily Marca in 2021.
“But all that is in the past and we have always respected each other a lot, no matter how much we have been rivals in those Clasicos. Having him as a teammate today is spectacular.
“And now, having had more time together in Paris, I have seen that he is a great person.”
Centre-Back: Thiago Silva
Club: Chelsea
Country: Brazil
Age: 38
Season Stats: Club Matches 27 (Clean Sheets 8), Internationals 4 (Clean Sheets 2)
It is a testament to the Brazilian’s class as a player that in a season in which Chelsea are finding points in the Premier League harder to come by than hope for Newcastle United fans under the Mike Ashley regime, Silva is widely accepted as being one of the Blues’ standout performers.
Silva’s peerless tackling skills mean he rarely gives away fouls or collects bookings. The former Brazil captain, who’s in his 21st year in professional football, has been sent off only 5 times in his career, and 3 of those instances happened when Silva was still plying his trade in South America. Though Silva has lost some of his famed pace with the onset of age, his anticipation hasn’t dulled one bit. “He is the Benjamin Button of football,” Thomas Tuchel, then in charge of Chelsea, said once of Silva.
“It is a miracle in a way because with this league, this schedule, this intensity of a daily business at the very end of his career, it was a very brave decision for him but I know how much effort he puts in to stay fit.”
Silva sustained injuries to his knee ligament during a Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur in February and is expected to be out of action for 6 weeks. Chelsea fans will hope he can make it back in time for their two-legged Champions League quarterfinal tie against Real Madrid, scheduled for April 12 and April 18.
Centre-Back: Dante
Club: OGC Nice
Age: 39
Country: Brazil
Season Stats: Appearances 38, Clean Sheets 12
This is Dante’s seventh season at Nice, which is located on the French Riviera. What was expected to be an Indian summer to his career – Dante signed for Nice at the age of 32 in 2016 – has now become a full-blown love affair between the Brazilian and the Ligue 1 club. Dante himself has admitted as much.
“It’s no longer a ‘club-player’ relationship, it’s a love story,” said the centre-back after announcing a one-year extension to his contract in March 2022. Dante, who has captained Nice for a few seasons now, is known for his ball-playing ability, strength in the air and tactical awareness. He is especially strong in building attacks from the back and despite the onset of age, has helped Nice boast of having the second-best defensive record in Ligue 1 this season. They also had the joint-best defensive record in France last season, sharing the honour with Paris Saint-Germain.
When Dante extended his contract last March, the then Nice sporting director Julian Fournier said that the Brazilian’s future was “no longer a question of contracts.” “If he still wants to play, he will keep playing for us. He will stay with us for some time still, you can get used to seeing him!”
Left-Back: Jan Vertonghen
Club: Anderlecht
Country: Belgium
Age: 35
Season Stats: Club Appearances 32 (Clean Sheets 12), Internationals 9 (Clean Sheets 3)
Jan Vertonghen did not expect to be playing in the Belgian Jupiler League this season. Having lost his first-team spot at Benfica, the former Tottenham Hotspur centre-back did not expect to be one of the protagonists of the Portuguese giants on the pitch but had still wanted to finish his career in Lisbon. But after a conversation with Benfica coach Roger Schmidt, Vertonghen understood “it was not going to work” and agreed a move to Belgian giants Anderlecht.
Vertonghen told Flemish news channel VTM Nieuws that he had had “tears in his eyes” as he wanted to stay in Lisbon but since relocating to Anderlecht, has proved that Benfica’s loss has been the Belgian giants’ gain. In a season in which Anderlecht appointed a new coach in December – Brian Riemer succeeding Felice Mazzu, who was fired – and in which they are struggling to qualify for Europe, Vertonghen has spearheaded their run to the quarterfinals of this season’s UEFA Europa Conference League. In the tournament the star defender helped his team see off, among others, the more fancied Villarreal of Spain in the Round of 16. Anderlecht face Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in the last eight.
Vertonghen has also continued to feature prominently for the Belgium national side, for whom he holds the record for most appearances at 147.
“I just had to touch the ball. Technically he’s just unbelievable,” Tottenham forward Son Heung-Min once said of Vertonghen after Spurs’ 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in a UEFA Champions League match. Vertonghen had played at left wingback in the match rather than in central defence, and had made an assist for Son as well as scoring a goal himself. “He can play every position. He deserves a goal and an assist,” the South Korean said.
Over the course of his career, Vertonghen has earned a reputation as a strong passer of the ball and marvellous reader of the game. The Belgian has spoken in the past of his preference to play at centre-back, but has willingly played at left-back when necessary. So for the purposes of this article, we’ll slot him at left-back.
Defensive Midfielder: Lasse Schone
Club: NEC Nijmegen
Country: Denmark
Age: 36
Season Stats: Appearances 28, Goals 1, Assists 1
Schone is best remembered for his incredible freekick against Real Madrid during the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League season, when his delivery from the left wing dipped over a helpless Thibaut Courtois and lodged in the top right corner of the Madrid goal. The Danish midfielder’s strike sewed up a famous 4-1 win over the reigning European champions at the Santiago Bernabeu, following which the young Ajax side he was part of proceeded to advance till the semifinals of the competition.
Schone began his Ajax career as a utility player, deployed on the wing as a right or left winger, in midfield as a defensive midfielder, in defence as a right back, sometimes even up front as a centre forward. It was only after he turned 30 that he nailed down a spot in central midfield as a deep-lying playmaker, where he flourished. Schone’s experience of playing in positions forward up the pitch helped him become a better player when taking on a deeper role on the pitch.
“Everyone knows that I am not a supporter who makes sliding tackles or is concerned with aerial duels,” Schone told Dutch football magazine Voetbal International in 2017. “But I do know how an attacking midfielder tries to anticipate anywhere, read situations and choose good positions you can be in in and make it difficult for any opponent.”
Schone now captains NEC Nijmegen, a newly promoted team who have never won a major honour in their history and are not expected to challenge for the Dutch title anytime soon. Schone himself conceded as much on joining Nijmegen in 2021, saying, “My family and I immediately got a good feeling after NEC got in touch. The story and the whole project of the club sounded very interesting. I had a wonderful time here. The first step is to turn NEC into a stable Eredivisie club. I am confident that we will succeed.”
After helping Nijmegen to a 11th place finish in his first season with them in 2021/22 and with the team currently placed 10th in the 18-team Eredivisie this season, Schone is keeping his word.
Central Midfielder: Luka Modric
Club: Real Madrid
Country: Croatia
Age: 37
Season Stats: Club Appearances 36 (Goals 6, Assists 6), Internationals 13 (Goals 2)
“If that’s what it takes for us to win,” said Croatia captain Luka Modric, “then I’ll say goodbye.” The pocket-sized playmaker had been asked if he would retire if Croatia won the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar. Just over a month later, Croatia narrowly missed out on their objective, finishing third after reaching the semifinals of the quadrennial tournament. While Modric may have been heartbroken over failing to win the World Cup for his country, Real Madrid and Croatia fans would have been glad they would get to see the midfield schemer in their colours for some time more.
Four months after the World Cup ended, the 37-year-old Modric remains as integral to Real and Croatia as he was when this season began. Madrid look unlikely to defend their La Liga title but are still in contention to win the Copa del Rey and retaining the UEFA Champions League crown they won last season. “Modric and Kroos played well today,” said Real coach Carlo Ancelotti after the Los Blancos saw off Liverpool in the Champions League Round of 16 last month. “The humility of the veterans is the key, they have no ego. The youngsters are patient, knowing they have players with fantastic careers ahead of them. But Modric and Kroos don’t play because of the careers they’ve had, they play because they deserve it.”
Modric, whose contract with Real expires in the summer, has said he wants to retire in Madrid but Los Blancos reportedly are not pleased he has chosen to continue in international football after the 2022 World Cup.
“I am doing everything I can to give my best and deserve the chance to continue here. I can’t do more,” said Modric in February about signing an extension to his Madrid contract. Come the end of season, Real fans will hope their Croatian talisman will sign on for one more magical year at the Spanish capital, just as he has done for the past few seasons.
Central Midfielder: David Silva
Club: Real Sociedad
Country: Spain
Age: 37
Season Stats: Appearances 26, Goals 2, Assists 5
The Foro Italico in Rome was seething with anger in August 2020. The sports complex houses the Stadio Olimpico, the stadium shared by Serie A clubs Lazio and Roma. Lazio officials had been shocked to learn that David Silva, one of Manchester City’s greatest players, would be joining Real Sociedad on a free transfer that summer and not Lazio, as they had believed would be the case. “I learn about David Silva’s transfer to Real Sociedad. I have great respect for the player, but not for the man,” wrote a caustic Lazio sporting director Igli Tare on Lazio’s website.
Silva’s representatives, for their part, claimed nothing had been finalised with Lazio and that they were surprised by Tare’s anger. Regardless of the circumstances, Silva’s return to Spain at the twilight of his career has been a resounding success.
The 5-foot-7-inch playmaker plays as an attacking midfielder at Sociedad, unlike at City where he was usually deployed as a central midfielder. This hasn’t dimmed Silva’s astonishing ability to find spaces where none exist and threading passes through them. He has scored 6 goals and made 17 assists in 85 matches for Sociedad so far, which could have been higher if Silva had been luckier with injuries and if the San Sebastian-based club had better finishers and players with more refined ball skills.
Last month, after Silva returned to full fitness following an injury layoff that kept him out for 35 days – during which Sociedad won just 1 of the 7 matches they played in – Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil said, “”It seems incredible, I don’t know if he has something to do with it, I’m sure it will, but with David’s return today the ball ran differently (in training).”
Since Silva’s arrival at the club in 2020, Sociedad have won the 2020 Copa del Rey trophy, ending a 34-year trophy drought. They have also qualified for the Europa League in every season he has been at the club and currently sit fourth in La Liga, which will bring Champions League football to Sociedad for the first time since 2014.
“He’s like a young lad. It’s a luxury having him with us because of what he gives us in terms of the competition and on a daily basis,” Alguacil said last year of Silva. “In order to shine he has to have the right structure, he is enthusiastic and he is strong, he couldn’t want for any of that. I hope we can count on him in the future. He is 36 but it seems like he’s 26.”
Central Attacking Midfielder: Lionel Messi (captain)
Club: Paris Saint-Germain
Country: Argentina
Age: 35
Season Stats: Club Appearances 33 (Goals 18, Assists 17), Internationals 8 (Goals 8, Assists 3)
The marker was laid down in PSG’s first match of the new season. Lionel Messi started and scored first in the French champions’ 4-0 drubbing of FC Nantes in July 2022, in Ligue 1’s version of the Charity Shield. He then picked up pace, scoring 8 goals and assisting 10 others before the French league took an early break to facilitate the conduct of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Messi boarded the plane to the Middle-East, won Argentina’s third World Cup trophy – and his second Golden Ball trophy for being the best player in the tournament – returned to Paris in early January and picked up where he left off.
“The first year (at PSG) I had a hard time adapting to Paris for different reasons,” Messi told PSG’s YouTube channel earlier this season. “This season I started differently, with a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of desire. (I’m) more comfortable with the club, the city and everything that Paris means.”
Messi’s upturn in form also has to do with a change in his playing position, where he has gone from being deployed on the right wing to a more central role as an attacking midfielder behind strikers Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
The Argentina captain has grown into his role as a leader within PSG, marshalling his side to victories even in the absence of fellow talismen Mbappe and Neymar.
“Leo holds the team. There is obviously the absence, not only of two players, of Kylian (Mbappe) and Ney (Neymar) but also of Marco Verratti, Sergio Ramos,” said PSG coach Christophe Galtier in February, after Messi had helped his side see off Toulouse 2-1 in the absence of key first-team players.
“He assumes this role of leader. It is in a natural way. Today and in the middle of the week, he obviously has a lot of importance in our game, he is an important benchmark.”
In August 2022, indifferent form for PSG meant Messi was not nominated for the Ballon d’Or award for the first time since 2005. On current form, with the World Cup in his (bisht) pocket, and even with the early elimination of PSG from the Champions League, it would be foolhardy to rule him out winning the honour for a record-extending 8th time.
Centre-Forward: Olivier Giroud
Club: AC Milan
Country: France
Age: 36
Season Stats: Club Appearances 36 (Goals 12, Assists 6), Internationals 8 (Goals 5, Assists 1)
Olivier Giroud has a lot of tools in his kit box besides just goals – he uses all of his 6-feet-4-inch frame for being a formidable presence in the box, link-up play, defensive work and beating opponents in the air. At Milan, he has added one more skill to his repertoire: that of an exorciser. Since the retirement of Filippo Inzaghi in 2012, the Number 9 shirt at Milan was worn by a succession of forwards, some illustrious and some not-so, but none could replicate the success enjoyed by Inzaghi in that jersey. Inzaghi’s successors included Fernando Torres, Gonzalo Higuain, Andre Silva, Krzysztof Piatek, Alessandro Matri and Mario Mandzukic. With each failed successor, the number slowly began to gain notoriety, with some calling it “cursed.”
“I’m not superstitious, I’m a Christian and I believe I can handle the pressure of this shirt which was worn by Inzaghi, Van Basten and Jean-Pierre Papin,” said Giroud during his presentation as a Milan player in August 2021. “I will do my best to make the fans proud.”
Giroud was as good as his word, scoring 14 times for Milan in the 2021-22 season in 38 matches as he helped the Rossoneri win their first Scudetto in 11 years.
This season however, Giroud was supposed to have it easy. With 40-year-old striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic not expected to return to the field till February 2023 due to a ligament injury, Milan had signed 27-year-old Belgian forward Divock Origi from Liverpool last summer. Origi was expected to free up the workload off Giroud, who had played 47 matches in the 2021-22 season, including 9 for France.
A series of injuries to Origi however, have confined the Belgian to only 7 starts in the 27 matches he has been available for selection for Milan this season. He has also scored only 2 goals. With Croatian Ante Rebic, Milan’s other offensive option to play up front also laid up often due to injuries, Giroud has been ploughing a lone furrow – and thriving.
The Frenchman is currently Milan’s top scorer with 12 goals in all competitions, with a further 5 scored for France in internationals. At the Qatar World Cup, Giroud scored 4 goals to help France reach a second successive final, compensating for a dubious record set in 2018 when he started all the matches of Les Bleus’ victorious campaign but failed to register a shot on target.
“Olivier has big experience. As long as he retains his performance levels for his club, he will remain selectable,” said France coach Didier Deschamps in March after selecting Giroud for the Euro 2024 qualifiers against the Netherlands and Ireland.
“He is the age he is. He isn’t young. He brings experience. He’s here because he remains at the highest level.”
Centre-Forward: Iago Aspas
Club: Celta Vigo
Country: Spain
Age: 35
Season Stats: Club Appearances 30 (Goals 12, Assists 3), Internationals 2
Aspas has been one of the finest players in Spain for more than a decade now, his close control of the ball, vision and finishing having delighted La Liga fans everywhere. Aspas’ extraordinary ball control and low centre of gravity make it extremely difficult to defend against him, which is attested by his record of scoring in double figures in 11 of the past 12 seasons he has played.
The one season in which he flopped came at Liverpool in 2013-14, where the success of Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling upfront saw Aspas’ game time evaporate: he was part of 38 match day squads during that season but played in only 15 of them, and started only 6.
Aspas left England after just one season, joining Sevilla in the 2014-15 season during which he scored 10 goals and helped them win the Europa League. The next season, he rejoined Celta Vigo, from whom he had joined Liverpool. He hasn’t stopped scoring since. “Perhaps because of what we’re seeing this year, I could say that Iago is more important for Celta than Messi for Barca,” said Celta Vigo midfielder Brais Mendez during the 2018-2019 season, when Aspas ended up scoring more than 20 goals for the third season in a row.
“He’s a spectacular player,” said Zinedine Zidane, then Real Madrid coach, in 2021. “He is an international player and one who always makes a difference.”
Celta have never won a major honour in their history and usually find themselves embroiled in relegation scraps.
Carlos Carvalhal, the current Celta coach, could not be happier having Aspas in the team. “He’s the best player I’ve ever coached,” he recently said. “His numbers are fantastic. It’s a pleasure to train him, he does incredible things. He’s a different player.”
Last month, new Spain coach Luis de la Fuente called up Aspas for national duty for the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Norway and Scotland. It was de la Fuente’s first squad announcement since taking over from Luis Enrique as coach. The recall took place after a gap of almost 4 years, during which Enrique had shunned Aspas from the national set up despite the Celta striker scoring goals by the dozen. Aspas played both of Spain’s qualifiers last month, starting one against Norway, but was disappointing in both and will hope for more chances in the future.