Noussair Mazraoui has made 55 appearances for Man United this season
His lifestyle has helped him through after he suffered heart palpitations
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By CHRIS WHEELER
Published: 07:00 EDT, 18 May 2025 | Updated: 07:00 EDT, 18 May 2025
Ask Noussair Mazraoui how he has managed to play so many games in his first season at Manchester United, and he believes that giving up fizzy drinks has been more important than a heart procedure.
Mazraoui was treated after going off at half-time at Aston Villa in October having experienced palpitations. He had previously taken a break from football while at Bayern Munich in 2023 due to inflammation of heart tissue caused by Covid.
The 27-year-old Moroccan was back for United’s next game, though, and has barely missed one since as he has racked up 55 appearances – more than any other player alongside captain Bruno Fernandes. Last month, Mazraoui surpassed the number of minutes he managed in two seasons at Bayern.
It’s a surprising statistic given the heart issue. ‘That's a long time ago, it feels like ages ago,’ he says. ‘No, everything was just fine. It was like nothing big or huge, nothing worthy of mention.
‘It didn't make any difference with it or without it. But personally, I've managed to play a lot of minutes and played in different positions. Personally, I think I did quite well on average.
‘You would say it's strange to play even more games. I changed some things, some small details. I think at the top of football, details really matter.’
Noussair Mazraoui says swapping fizzy drinks for water is the key behind his consistency
The wing-back has scarcely missed a game, racking up 55 appearances for Manchester United
He had a heart procedure after palpitations but says the drinks change has done more
So what’s his secret then?
‘Just a small thing. I'm not drinking any sodas anymore. Yeah, fizzy drinks. It changes a lot, I think, because the sugar, you don't get it in your body anymore. So just water makes a huge difference eventually.
‘It was just to try to see if there's any difference. It's really nice to have a little drink of it with dinner, but sugar is really bad for your body.’
Mazraoui isn’t joking when he says he has played in a lot of positions this season after reuniting with Erik ten Hag in the summer, joining United from Bayern in a deal worth up to £17million.
Seven at the last count, mainly as a wing-back or part of a back-three since Ruben Amorim replaced Ten Hag in November. It included an appearance as a No.10 against Fenerbahce in October, two games after the heart procedure.
‘That was a surprise,’ Mazraoui smiles. ‘I did it a really long time ago. But to be honest, I'm surprised that you're telling me that I played in seven positions. I didn't know that.
‘It's been a long season, a tough season. In a season where you win everything, you come into a kind of flow. You can kick me, I will not feel it. But when you lose a lot of games, you just give me a little step on my toes and you're in a lot of pain. It's a big difference.
‘After playing so many games, I didn't do that quite often in my career, so of course you're going to feel it a little bit in the body.’
He has messaged on a personal level with Erik ten Hag since the Dutchman ewas sacked
The pair experienced great success together at Ajax but things didn't work out at Old Trafford
Ten Hag’s departure in late October was particularly difficult for Mazraoui who won three titles and two Doubles under the Dutchman at Ajax.
‘Really, I wasn’t happy with that,’ he adds. ‘Getting a manager sacked is always a feeling of disappointment. You feel it as a player as well.
‘I was disappointed with that in myself and everybody else was as well, I think. That was not the most happy part.
‘I've always been quite good with Erik. It's not that I talk to him every week, but I just texted him maybe one or two times more personally. Like, how are you as a person, because it's not only about football.’
Amorim has been a different kind of boss. Not only the change in system but also the brutal honesty about United’s failings in public. Can that be hard for a player to hear?
‘No, for me personally not, because that's how I am as well,’ says Mazraoui. ‘I'm not hiding behind anything, and that's the manager as well.
‘He takes responsibility. He knows he's the head of the club eventually because he's the manager. That's something I like a lot about him.
‘He's really honest, really straightforward. He's not hiding from anything.’
Ruben Amorim's brutal honesty in press conferences is something he 'likes a lot'
United's success in the Europa League is a 'strange feeling' given their poor domestic season
Which brings us to Wednesday’s Europa League final against Tottenham in Bilbao and the chance to lift a trophy and qualify for the Champions League at the end of a season which could see one of these two great clubs finish one place above the relegation zone.
‘It's a strange feeling, of course,’ says Mazraoui. ‘As a player, you've had a great season in the Europa League but one of the worst seasons in the Premier League.
‘Can you be happy? Even if you win, do you have to stay sad? Be sad? You’re somewhere in between because you're happy that you won a prize but, on the other hand, it's always this feeling of a competition which you've failed in.
‘Winning a trophy is never easy. At the end of your career, it you look back at this season you're going to be proud of winning the Europa League – if we win on Wednesday – more than you're going to look at the failure in the Premier League. For sure, you can be proud.’
The difference between United’s form in the Premier League and Europa League has puzzled the players themselves. Unbeaten in Europe compared to a club record 18 domestic defeats.
‘That's something really tough to say, because we always manage in the Europa League to eventually win. We can do that in the Premier League,’ says Mazraoui.
‘I think the biggest example is Lyon, where we were almost dead in the last 10 minutes of the (quarter-final) game. Extra-time, everybody's tired and everything, and you still manage to win.
‘We have that kind of fighting spirit in the Europa League that maybe we lack in the Premier League.
‘I cannot really tell you what the reasons for that are because that's something mentally and something in the mindset that should be there, but many times this season it wasn’t.’
Ruben AmorimManchester United