Jordi Alba: Feed your engine

“You’ve got to look after yourself and eat the right things before and after games. That’s so important to getting the best from your body and allowing it to recover.

Pasta is obviously key to eat the night before a match, along with chicken or turkey breast or some fish.

After a game, you must take on board carbohydrate and protein, so pasta or rice are again important.

Eating cleverly after exercise is just as important as before it. If you’re playing two games a week, it can be difficult to move away from that routine, but if you only have one match, then it’s good to mix things up a bit with a bit more flavour.

Always remember, though, to stay away from fatty foods so you take care of your body. What you put into your body plays a massive role in what you get out of it.”

Jordi Alba wears the new adiZero F50 boots. Visit adidas.com or follow @adidasUK #F50 #allin or nothing

For more football tips see:
Mario Gotze's energy-boosting diet
Diego Forlan: My 24-hour food diary
Simon Mignolet’s big game nutrition plan
Micah Richards: 5 foods I can't live without

Andrew Murray is an award-winning writer, columnist and editor, voted the Consumer Journalist of the Year at the 2015 PPA New Talent Awards. A fluent Spanish speaker and former semi-professional footballer, he was senior staff writer at FourFourTwo from 2012 to 2019, interviewing the biggest names in the game from Lionel Messi (twice), Neymar and Luis Suarez, to Sergio Aguero, Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah for the cover, among others. He continues to write and edit for the brand on a regular basis, plus national newspapers, websites, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Premier League clubs. He is not a famous tennis player.