At 37 years old, Dan Nistor has just crossed the milestone of 500 matches in the Superliga. And he says he has no plans to stop.
In a special interview given to Gazeta Sporturilor, the midfielder from U Cluj revealed how, until this winter when he forced in the test matches in Antalya, he had no problems with injuries. And he explained what helped him stay in top physical shape all these years.
VIDEO. Dan Nistor reveals: “Why haven't I had any injuries? I'm from the country, I have a native gene!”
– How did you manage for so many years without having any hard, serious injury?
– I don't know, probably this thing too because it's from the country… Maybe it's because of this gene, so to speak, that injuries don't occur. Regarding this injury, I did some… I wanted to play in the training camp, I don't know what I wanted to prove in the friendly matches. I don't think that was the case for this. I was recovering much earlier, but I told you that nobody is perfect and we make mistakes because if we didn't make mistakes, we would be perfect and I don't think there is a person on this earth who is perfect.
– Correct.
– I thank God that I didn't have any big problems, I don't know, like broken legs and so on, all kinds of serious injuries. Because being quite old, it would be very, very difficult for me to recover at this age and I think my career would basically be over. But I hope to stay healthy and play as long as I can, because I think I can do it pretty well and I think I'll be playing for a while.
– And when you resume it, you don't take it to the other extreme.
– No, no. I'm going on vacation… I don't really like flying, because I'm really afraid of airplanes. Going to Rucăr on my way or, I don't know, here near Cluj, through the Maramureș area or so on. I have a lot of friends and they invite you to a sprit, a pastrami, a barbecue and you stay with them, you still tell stories, you still remember your childhood and things are quite nice and good.
– Regarding nutrition, food, is there something that is not on your menu? do you eat anything
– Anything, honestly I tell you anything. I have no desire to gain weight, I have no desire for anything. I go on a cure, if I can call it a cure, between holidays: I don't drink alcohol. Like until the summer, now a break, I don't drink… I do this stuff very, very often.
I don't know if I told a coach, maybe the other one would be upset. There were many, many, many coaches who inspired me like that from, so to speak, from their track record. Look, I could put Petre Grigoraș on her, because it was also the beginning of my career as a footballer. I caught him at Târgu Jiu and he told me certain things that have come true during his career. Because he also played football and knows very well how to eat this phenomenon. He basically told me some things that he was 90 percent absolutely right about. And so it happened. And look, I'm here in front of you and the day after tomorrow I'm going to be the longest-serving player in League 1, I'm going to have the most games, which is incredible, I can't believe it even now!
– Dan Nistor, U Cluj midfielder
