Number #4 on the list of 50 might just be the best soccer move and most humiliating for the defender, in this case Barcelona’s Carlos Puyol. I wonder if this moment comes to Puyol in his dreams, I mean nightmares. I wonder if Puyol pulled his groin when this happened. Real Madrid’s Angel Di Maria shows just how good he is with the soccer ball at his feet.
Di Maria, certainly no angel with the soccer ball at his feet, chops the ball back on Puyol and then feints one more time like he’s going to cut back inside making Puyol do the splits. What’s amazing about this move by Di Maria is how fast it is all done. He’s charging up the field on the dribble giving Puyol really no chance. Defenders hate when you dribble at them at speed. The attacking player has too many options and ways to go, the defender is too vulnerable. What’s Dani Alves thinking as he watches this unfold?
But there’s 50 other amazing soccer skills and tricks from players like Neymar, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Henry, Modric, and of course Lionel Messi. As one commenter put it so perfectly, and why Messi is the best footballer in the world: “Messi’s soccer skills are super effective. He’s not doing tricks in vain, everything he does has a purpose to advance forward and score a goal.”
That last part, “advance forward and score a goal”, is key. Messi perhaps more than any other soccer player is always trying to score, whether it’s with a pass or via a shot himself.
