Why are footballers playing for longer?

In some of Europe's top leagues, the top scorers are comfortably over 30. The German Bundesliga's leading marksman is Robert Lewandowski, who turns 34 in August. Karim Benzema has already reached that milestone, but that didn't stop him from having the season of his life and becoming LaLiga's leading goalscorer in Spain. And in Italy, the 32-year-old Ciro Immobile was Serie A's top gun for Lazio.

Meanwhile, in England, 37-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo could be considered a geriatric while playing alongside 22-year-old Jadon Sancho at Manchester United.

Ronaldo played against Leon Osman at Old Trafford when the Manchester United star was just 19 years old. The former Everton player recognises that, as Ronaldo has aged, he's made changes to his game - but he's an example to any young players starting out in the game. He told Football Now.

"He's (always) in the right place. He has bursts, he has real impact moments within the game, and that is also what helps him prepare for the next game because he's not running 13 or 14 kilometres during the game. He gives you a good ten and a half, and its maximum bursts within that. So I think he is the model of what footballers should try to be"

In terms of long-term longevity, Cristiano Ronaldo is impressive. However, he still has a long way to go to match the record of Japanese professional Kazuyoshi Miura, whose career spans five decades.

1986 Plays first game in professional football for Brazilian side Santos

1990 Makes debut for Japanese international team

1991 Wins first of four consecutive Japanese League Titles

1992 Scores first of 55 goals for Japan

1994 Joins Italian side Genoa on loan

1999 Signs for Dinamo Zagreb

2000 Wins 89th and last cap for Japan

2005 Joins Sydney FC on loan

2005 Makes