Players who had a signature move

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Football is evolving all the time, from new tactical ideas and formations to innovations in training, fitness and diet, the use of data in player recruitment and more.

And over the years, players have sought to create new moves, perfect older ones and find just about any way they can to gain an advantage on the pitch.

A versatile player who could operate as a full-back or on the wing, Taddei was also known for a trick which would see him drag the ball behind his standing leg with the inside of his right foot, before bringing it back across and in front of his body in the opposite direction with the outside of his boot. It became known as the “Aurelio”, in honour of Roma’s assistant manager Aurelio Andreazzoli, who had encouraged Taddei to take his training ground move to the pitch.

The Botafogo legend grew up with bow legs and learnt his football on a sloped pitch. Among his array of skills was an impressive turn, similar to the ones used later by Diego Maradona and Zinédine Zidane. He was also known for a comical move where he would taunt the defender, pretending to go past his opponent but leaving the ball where it was, often repeating this several times to confuse his rivals and simply to amuse himself.

The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain forward has tried the move on a number of occasions over the years, with varying degrees of success, and famously upset Athletic Club players by trying one in the 2015 Copa del Rey final at Camp Nou. Also known as a lambreta in Brazil and a lambretta in Italy, the move is sometimes referred to as an Ardiles flick after Argentine Osvaldo Ardiles’ trick in the film Escape to Victory.

A four-time French champion with Marseille, Papin scored over 350 career goals and won a Champions League title with Milan. He also took home the Ballon d’Or in 1991 and his penchant for acrobatic volleys became his trademark. Those special strikes even had a name, Papinade, born after a wonderful effort for Marseille against Niort in 1988. His brilliant bicycle kick against Belgium in 1992 is perhaps the most famous example.

Higuita, nicknamed El Loco (“The Madman”), threw his the body forwards and placed his hands on the ground to lunge his back heels forward and clear the incoming ball. The linesman’s flag was already up and Higuita had spent much of the warm-up practising the kick, but still made clean contact to produce an iconic moment which would later feature in the title of the documentary about his life: The Way of the Scorpion.

In duels after training with Bohemians goalkeeper Zdeněk Hruška for beer or chocolate, Panenka developed a technique which would see him dink the ball down the middle. He perfected it in training, friendlies and used it in a win against Dukla Prague before Euro 1976. But nobody outside his homeland had seen it until he used the technique to beat Sepp Maier and seal the trophy for Czechoslovakia. Maier didn’t speak to him for 35 years, but the penalty has been imitated by many of the game’s greats since and fittingly, the technique bears his name.