A perfectly executed skill can lift a crowd to their feet and provide showmanship to the theatrical spectacle of football.
Over the years, there have been players who have dazzled us with a moment of magic that left us asking, what was that?
Today we break down what we consider to be the greatest skill moves ever performed.
At the 1974 World Cup, Johan Cruyff etched his name into Football folklore when he produced the now legendary Cruyff turn for the first time against Sweden in their group match.
In truth, Cruyff would have gone down in history regardless, with his extensive trophy collection as both a player and manager testament to his outstanding Footballing ability, however, the Cruyff turn is what he will always be best associated with.
The turn is produced when a player fakes a pass or a shot before dragging the ball back behind their standing leg, turning 180 degrees before moving off again. Now one of the most widely used pieces of skill at the time, it was truly groundbreaking.
You can check out our tutorial in the video below!
It is hard to pinpoint the exact origin of The Rabona, but it is widely believed to have been used in a game for the first time by Argentinian striker Ricardo Infante in 1948.
Infante scored from range for his club Estudiantes using the difficult skill, with Argentine Football magazine El Grafico coining the name Rabona, which derives from the phrase ‘hacerse la rabona’, meaning to skip school in Spanish. This was due to the perceived skipping motion of the player using his stronger foot on his weaker side by bringing the foot around.
Since then, the move has been used by many players, with some truly spectacular results, including the 2021 Puskas Award winner from Erik Lamela, which you can see below.
Also widely-known as the Maradona Turn, after the late, great, footballing God (hand included) Diego Maradona, this move is a real crowd-pleaser but also extremely effective.
For a slightly younger football fan, you may fondly remember Zinedine Zidane pulling this out of his bag of tricks.
The name takes inspiration from a spinning roulette wheel due to the 360 degree motion you perform. You start by running towards the defender with the ball before using your right/left foot to trap the ball while turning 180 degrees and in the same motion bring your other foot around to drag the ball into the same direction that you were running previously.
Another famous piece of trickery that originated in South America (are you noticing a theme here?) was The Flip-Flap or The Elastico, invented by Japanese-Brazilian player Sérgio Echigo and arguably perfected by his former youth teammate, Brazilian legend Rivellino who learned the skill in 1964.
Rivellino inspired future generations with the mesmerising move and for us, the flip-flap is best associated with the footballing magician that is Ronaldinho.
The skill is performed by using the inside of your foot to move the ball outwards before a quick second touch with the inside of the boot to take it back in the other direction. Although it consists of two touches, ideally, the ball shouldn’t leave the foot, however, there are variations such as Ronaldinho’s.
Potentially the most eye-catching trick on this list, the rainbow flick’s roots can be traced back to Brazil in 1968, when Alexandre De Carvalho wowed fans with it for the first time during a match for Santos in their 5-1 victory over Botafogo.
The rainbow flick is not a widely used move during games, however, due to its difficulty and low success rate, but some players have become synonymous with it such as Jay-Jay Okocha (so good they named him twice) and Neymar.
The skill even appeared on the big screen when Argentina and Spurs legend Osvaldo (Ossie) Ardiles performed the trick in the 1981 cult classic Escape To Victory featuring iconic players such as Bobby Moore and Pele alongside movie giant Michael Caine.
This last piece of skill we do not advise our young keepers to replicate, or any keepers for that matter!
The scorpion was pulled out by Colombian goalkeeper Réne Higuita while playing against England in their 1995 friendly at Wembley.
In a moment of brilliance, or utter madness depending on how you look at it, Higuita ‘saved’ a weak effort on goal by launching himself up into the air and kicking the ball with both feet behind his head. Yes, it is as crazy as it sounds!
Take a look at the astonishing moment below.
