I am sure you didn't know this.
But there is a Real Madrid legend who used to travel everywhere with two suitcases. One had his clothes, the other had his own food because he refused to eat what his teammates ate. His teammates called him Lettuce.
He played for both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. So did his father-in-law. He was Marcos Llorente's father. His son, Marcos played for Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid too. He grew up to wear red glasses at night and co-own a light therapy company. The apple did not fall far from the tree.
Marcos Llorente is one of the most interesting human beings in professional football right now, and that is not because of what he does on the pitch, but because of the philosophy he lives by off it, and that philosophy did not start with him, it started with his father Paco Llorente.
Paco is a former Real Madrid winger who was so serious about nutrition and natural living that former Real Madrid goalkeeper Paco Buyo described him as a maniac of alimentation who carried his own food everywhere he went, later wrote a book on nutrition, and was nicknamed Lettuce by teammates who thought he had taken things too far.
Marcos grew up inside that world, and when he speaks about artificial light, blue light exposure and the way modern life is pulling people away from what is natural, he is not repeating something he read on a wellness blog, he is articulating a worldview that was modelled for him from childhood by a father who lived it completely.
His argument about blue light is actually rooted in genuine science and he explains it in a way that is very difficult to argue with, because he points out that the artificial light in most homes has a very high blue peak that simulates midday sunlight, and when your brain receives that signal at night it simply does not know that you intend to go to sleep, because the body does not respond to intention, it responds to light, and if the light says midday then the body believes it is midday regardless of what time your alarm is set for.
He wears red glasses at night specifically to filter that blue peak out, and when he turns up to interviews wearing them under studio lighting he is not making a fashion statement, he is being completely consistent with everything he believes, pointing out that the artificial light aimed at him during the recording is exactly the kind of exposure he is trying to protect himself from.
Marcos has also co-founded Aureo Lifestyle, a company specialising in photobiomodulation, which is a form of light therapy that uses specific wavelengths of light to promote healing and recovery, and that business is not a vanity project or a celebrity wellness brand, it is the commercial extension of a philosophy that his family has been living for decades.
He publicly posted a photo of his 59 year old father and called it his scientific evidence, pointing to Paco's physical condition as proof that the lifestyle produces real long term results, and he has said that when his playing career ends he will take care of himself as much or more than he does now, which tells you that this was never about football for him.
It was always just about life.
I hope you learned something today.
My name is Ajoje. I am a FIFA Licensed Agent and International Sports Lawyer. I write on the Law and Business of Football, a lot. Repost and Follow if you want to read more posts like this.
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Thoughts?
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