When it comes down to it, all of us want to look cool from time to time. Sometimes that can manifest in what we wear when we’re out and about, whilst other times it can be more about how we talk. For footballers, meanwhile, what we do on the pitch presents us with an excellent opportunity to do some pretty cool things. Sure, passing the ball and finding your man is what your teammates will want to see from you, with attackers being able to score goals and defenders launching into crunching tackles, but it’s the skills you can pull off that will be impossibly cool.
What is It?
There aren’t many skills you can perform on a football pitch that are both incredibly difficult to pull off whilst also looking effortlessly cool. The Rainbow Kick or Rainbox Flick definitely fits into that category, however. The showboating move can get you out of some difficult situations if you perform it well enough, but its advanced nature means that not everyone will be able to actually do it. If you’re wondering about the name, by the way, it comes from the fact that the ball moves in a rainbow-like arch as it travels from one place to another, slicing through the air as you leave your opponent dumbfounded.
In order to perform the trick, you need to use your free foot to roll the football up your standing leg, then using that leg to flick the ball in the air, usually over the head of an opposition player. At that point, you can then run onto the ball and leave your opponent for dust, rushing into the space and leaving them wondering what on earth just happened. For this to work, though, the entire process has to be performed in one quick, fluid motion, which is why it might well be the skill on this site that requires the most practice and dedication to be able to achieve it confidently and without error.
If you want to see it in practice, then one of the most famous proponents of the trick is Neymar, the Brazilian player who took to the field for the likes of Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. It is worth bearing in mind that it’s a controversial skill, which is why Neymar was once booked for pulling it out during an actual match. That being said, it’s unlikely that you’re going to be shown a yellow card for doing it in a Sunday League match, although it’s not entirely out of the realms of the possible that you might anger the opposition enough to mean that they give you some rough tackles in return.