5 players you probably didn't know are still playing professional football

#4 Roque Santa Cruz

Roque Santa Cruz in his days at Manchester City

A series of injuries meant that Roque Santa Cruz never quite lived up to the initial promise he showed coming through as a teenager at Olimpia in his native Paraguay, but he nevertheless carved out a very solid career for himself that took in spells at Bayern Munich, Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Real Betis and Malaga.

Towards the end of his career in Europe, he had become useful pretty much only as a relatively static central reference point to receive the ball with his back to goal and attempt to bring others into play. Any mobility he once had was gone.

It may, then, come as a surprise to find out that Santa Cruz is still playing on, back in Paraguay at Olimpia. The 36-year-old is normally used more as an impact substitute than a starter these days but is still occasionally capable of decisive interventions.

For instance, he came off the bench to score the second goal in the club’s 2-0 win in the derby win over Cerro Porteno last May.

In December, his contract was extended for the calendar year of 2018.