Ranking the 5 best football tricks ever, including Okocha and Ronaldinho

Football is arguably the most popular and emotive sport in the whole world. From the goals scored to the tackles, it has always been a gift that has kept on giving.

There is also no doubt that over the last 15 years or so, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have played a huge part in elevating the standards of the game through their consistent desire to reach success.

However, away from the goals and the tactical nous of the managers, the in-born ability of a player to perform a trick during a game has often attracted fans.

Most of the tricks are usually done during unveiling ceremonies or warm-up sessions, but when done in the middle of a game to fool an opponent, the result is always magic.

Sports Brief takes a look at some of these tricks and who 'invented' them.

1. Johan Cruyff's turn

The legendary Dutchman ranks highly when it comes to the ability to perform different tricks with the ball. His evasive dribbling technique first came to the fore during the 1974 World Cup when Cruyff feigned a pass before dragging the ball with his standing foot to get past Swedish defender, Jan Olsson.



2. The Panenka

Two years after Cruyff's masterclass, Czech player, Antonin Panenka, came up with a different penalty-taking technique that left West Germany goalkeeper, Sepp Maier, flat-footed.

Normally in penalties, most players prefer to slam the ball towards the goal, but the attacker simply clipped the ball and found the back of the net.

The trick relies on the goalkeeper diving to either side for it to be effective and there is always the danger of the shot-stopper remaining unmoved and thus collecting the ball simply, as Edouard Mendy did to Sergio Aguero two years ago. This was not the case for Dani Carvajal when he helped Spain win the Nations League.



3. Jay Jay Okocha's turn

As far as tricksters that have graced the Premier League go, only a few beat Okocha's masterclass. The Nigerian was a wizard with his feet, making it impossible to get the ball away from him once he was on his way.

One of his famous skills was the Okocha turn, where he would roll the ball away with one boot, then fake a move to one direction before quickly turning in the other direction, leaving a defender dazed.



4. Ricardo Quaresma's trivela

The Portuguese star perfected the trivela as easily as Elon Musk's ability to change Twitter rules and policies. The skill sees a player apply a curl or a bend on their pass using the outside of the boot.

For Quaresma, it didn't matter whether he was passing or scoring; his trivela passes were always state of the art, including the glorious goal he scored against Fenerbache in 2018. In recent times, Luka Modric has made the skill his own.



5. Ronaldinho's elastico

Any listicle on football tricks is incomplete without someone from the Samba Boys included. When one thinks of any Brazilian player they know - they somehow always have a bag of tricks at the ready.

Currently, Neymar holds most of the bragging rights, but before him came the magnificent Ronaldinho. The Barcelona legend had a couple of tricks up his sleeve, but the elastico is what caught the eye.

The skill involves rolling the ball outside with the foot before doing a quick turn with the same foot. The feign often fools defenders if done right. It is also known as the flip-flap in some quarters, with former Chelsea star, Willian, also fond of the technique.

This list is by no means exhaustive, given there are hundreds of tricks out there. There is the Ronaldo chop or the skills Messi used to make Jerome Boateng eat grass eight years ago. The younger generation are not excluded, with Arsenal skipper, Martin Odegaard, also pulling off impressive moves last season.