The situation
After several years of goalscoring hardships, where the 0-0 were recurring protagonists in each day, LaLiga lives its best scoring moment in the last five years . 210 goals are accumulated in eight days, 25 more than last season. The record for the campaign (222) is far away, but the Spanish competition has rediscovered the goals thanks to the most veteran. LaLiga is experiencing an improvement in success in front of goal and we have to thank, to a great extent, the oldest players in the competition. Lewandowski has landed in Spain boasting of punch at 34 years old. The Pole accumulates nine goals in his personal account, averaging more than one goal per game . But it is not an isolated case, among the top five in the race for the Pichichi, there are three who are 32 years old or older. This is the case of Joselu, who continues to show that he can score in pairs, and Aspas, who at 35 years of age continues to lead Celta and knock on the door of the National Team with goals. But they are not the only ones, Benzema, 34, is the last to win the Pichichi in the First Division. Although an injury has left him sidelined several games at this start. That the veterans of the competition are the ones leading this scoring rebirth is surprising, since it is assumed that the older the performance should decrease. But a study called ‘There is no sport for old players’ prepared by Roberto López del Campo and Ricardo Resta, members of the LaLiga Mediacoach department, and the researcher Carlos Lago, analyze the relationship between performance and age.
The details
In their follow-up and analysis of 154 LaLiga Santander players between the 2012-13 and 19-20 seasons, they highlight that the number of high-intensity efforts and the distance covered in these races decreased by up to 1.80% each year that passed .So why are they the top scorers? This study has the answer to Lewandowski dropping goals at 34 or Benzema having a scoring explosion from his thirties: “ Players with long careers were unable to maintain their physical performance as they aged. However, they can annually improve their technical-tactical skills with increasing age as a possible compensation mechanism . In other words, they balance their performance in the face of less physical deployment with more technical-tactical quality.