Real Madrid’s stamina at the business end of the season has been key to recent successes - thanks in no small part to fitness coach Antonio Pintus.

During Madrid’s 2023 summer tour in the United States, a NASA official watched Los Blancos train, and was impressed by the ‘Pintus method’. 

NASA then invited Pintus to Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he got a tour of the facilities and spoke to the space agency about the work he does.

And NASA chiefs were so blown away by Pintus that they decided to bring him in to advise on astronaut fitness in the Artemis space flight programme.

Judith Hayes, NASA’s chief science officer for human health and performance, says: “He was able to challenge our people and our thinking.”

The agency was particularly impressed with the way Pintus uses data to establish personalised fitness routines for every Real Madrid player.

As astronauts will be inside a small space craft, NASA was also interested in Pintus’ use of ‘hypoxia masks’ to improve anaerobic performance.

The Artemis programme plans to return humans to the Moon after over half a century. Here is Pintus inside the Orion space craft simulator.

NASA also works with other major sports clubs, such as NFL  franchise the Houston Texans and  NBA team the Houston Rockets.

Known as the ‘iron sergeant’, Pintus  is a popular member of Real Madrid’s backroom team. He has helped  the club to 18 trophies in six years.