It's certainly an appropriate descriptor for the evergreen Barcelona striker, Robert Lewandowski.
Though age may have wearied him a little, the fact is that he's never actually been the quickest centre-forward. His best work has always been as a result of his predatory instincts and superior movement in and around the 18 yard box, rather than peeling off the shoulder of the last defender to chase down long balls or lost causes.
On Wednesday against former side, Borussia Dortmund, the 36-year-old Polish international was at it again.
His two goals gave him 34 in the knockout stages of the Champions League, bringing him level with Karim Benzema and only behind Lionel Messi (49 goals) and Cristiano Ronaldo (67) in that particular metric.
Lewandowski's historic Champions League night against Dortmund
Lewandowski also became the first player in history to score 10+ goals in a Champions League campaign for three different clubs: Barcelona, Bayern Munich (twice) and Dortmund.
Perhaps as significantly for a club that were in the doldrums just a few seasons ago, Barcelona have not lost any of their 23 games across all competitions so far in 2025 (W19 D4), which is the best unbeaten start to a calendar year in their history (previous best was in 2016 - P22 W19 D3).
Alongside Lamine Yamal and Raphinha, Lewandowski was sensational against Dortmund, who suffered their joint-heaviest ever defeat in a European Cup/UEFA Champions League match (4-0 loss to Ajax in the 2021/22 group stage).
The strength of performance of the entire team will certainly have the other seven teams left in the competition sitting up and taking notice, and in order to try and stop Hansi Flick's juggernaut, opposition teams have got to get to grips with a 36-year-old striker who is showing no sign whatsoever of slowing down in terms of his goalscoring exploits.
Lewandowski now has 99 in total for Barcelona in all competitions, as well as 20 assists, and those have come in just 138 games.
That would be an astonishing return for a player approaching or in his prime, let alone one who is coming into the autumn of his career.
Another Pichichi award is on the cards this season
This season he's leading the way in LaLiga and his 25 goals in 29 games to date mean he's already got one hand on the Pichichi award for the top scorer in the Spanish top-flight.
He's been banging goals in throughout his career of course and to put his excellence in Catalonia in perspective, he's only behind Luis Suarez (192 Barca goals since 2014/15) and Lionel Messi (315 Barca goals since 14/15).
It's an accepted fact that players are playing for longer now, with Luka Modric still going at 39, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema ripping it up in the Saudi Pro League at 40 and 37 years of age respectively and Lionel Messi still showing no signs of slowing down in MLS at 37.
Former Real Madrid front men Ronaldo and Benzema are two of the top three SPL goalscorers so far this season with the Portuguese bagging 21 goals in 25 games - to put him top of the scoring charts - and the Frenchman getting onto the podium thanks to 17 goals in 23 games. MLS has only just restarted again but Messi already has a more than reasonable three goals in four games.
However, it could be argued that none of those players are playing at as high a level as Lewandowski at present.
Not forgetting that the striker is playing the fullest part in his team's successes as opposed to just turning up to bank his weekly cheque.
Modric can still point to the fact that he remains a big part of Carlo Ancelotti's plans at Los Blancos but ostensibly the Croatian is now an impact sub rather than a starter.
Lewandowski, however, has started in 128 of his 138 matches and, with an astonishing 11,009 minutes under his belt in his Barca career, only Jules Kounde, 10 years the striker's junior, has more (11,365) since the Pole joined the Blaugranes.
His pass completion stats remain in a favourable mid to high 70s range, and they've been as stable at Barca as they were throughout his time at Bayern Munich.
In terms of the amount of duels across the seasons, these two fluctuate ever so slightly but Lewandowski definitely involves himself in the game rather than being a bystander. For example, his 307 duels for Barca in 2022/23 was better than his 281 for Bayern in 2020/21 and only just shy of 325 for the Bavarians in 2021/22.
Aerial duels and ball recoveries are other areas where he remains consistent, with his shooting accuracy the one area that the player could still work on. If he continues finding the net with such regularity, however, there's a cogent argument that Hansi Flick will be better served by overlooking that minor shortcoming (56.3%) in the striker's game.
A striker that is so good that he has the knack of where to be and when to be there so micro-managing him really isn't necessary.
Perhaps he's less sharp out of the blocks than he used to be but that's countered by the fact that he'll start his runs into the box a little earlier, thus ensuring he will still arrive at the same time and the chance will still be there.
Healthy eating behind Lewandowski's longevity
The secret behind how he's stayed so fit and active into his mid 30s is almost certainly down to his 'backwards' diet, implemented by his wife, Anna.
"We refrain from lactose and wheat flour. It's about quality food," she said in a 2019 interview. "Pancakes, brownies, vegetable spaghetti, porridge or millet. We also like to eat high-quality fish. Sometimes after training we drink beetroot juice with cinnamon or cayenne pepper. When we mix many foods at once, sometimes we aren't doing the right thing."
Lewandowski also credited his calorie intake as being one of the most important parts of his fitness regime. "As desserts are sweet, they can be digested quicker," he said. "Soups too. But proteins take longer to digest. If I eat something sweet at the end and it mixes with the protein in my stomach, then it's harder to process as well.
"Healthy eating is important to me and this method suits me. It improves fat burning. My wife suggested it to me. She's a fitness coach and has a great deal of expertise about how the body works. She's really good at what she does – so good that a lot of other players in international football want to work with her."
If he goes on to help Barcelona win their first Champions League title in a decade, what prize Lewandowski for the Ballon d'Or this year...?
