5 of the most creative set-piece routines

When it comes to football, there are few things that entertain the fans more than a great set-piece delivery. While the likes of David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo have risen to huge fame with their unbelievable free-kicks, their goals have been moments of individual brilliance. Perhaps even better are team efforts from set-pieces.

Sure, sometimes plans laid out carefully on the training ground might go a little awry, but when they actually come off, it’s always pretty awesome.

Here are five of the best and most creative set-pieces in football history.

#5 The Donkey Kick

Fans of Coventry City haven’t had a lot to cheer about in recent times, hence the reason why this routine delivered by Ernie Hunt and Willie Carr – from all the way back in 1970 – is still talked about on the Coventry terraces today. It was such a unique move though that it’s still well-renowned across the football world in general, and it’s better-known as the ‘Donkey Kick’.

Awarded a free-kick on the edge of the Everton penalty area, Carr gripped the ball between both heels before flicking it into the air, right into the path of Hunt, who volleyed it up and over the wall into the top right-hand corner of the net. Everyone was stunned by the brilliance of the move, and the goal went on to be awarded Goal of the Season on Match of the Day.

Perhaps the best thing about the Donkey Kick? The move was outlawed at the end of the season by the FA, as Carr had touched the ball with both feet in order to flick it into the air. But at the end of the day, the goal stood, and Carr, Hunt and Coventry claimed their place in the history books for one of the most creative set-pieces ever.

#4 Zanetti fools England

The World Cup 1998 match between Argentina and England is well-remembered for plenty of reasons – Michael Owen’s spectacular solo goal, David Beckham’s sending off, Sol Campbell’s disallowed goal amongst others – but one aspect that gets unfairly forgotten is the set-piece delivery from Argentina that allowed midfielder Javier Zanetti to equalise on the stroke of half-time. Argentina were behind following Owen’s goal, but this free-kick sent the momentum swinging into the South Americans’ favour.

Awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box, England’s men braced themselves for a shot from star striker Gabriel Batistuta, but a dummy instead allowed Juan Sebastian Veron to slip a low pass to the right of the wall, where Zanetti lay in wait. With the England players caught unawares, Zanetti spun and hit a left-footed shot across goalkeeper David Seaman and into the back of the net before anyone even had a chance to react.

England’s players – and their manager Glenn Hoddle – were left crestfallen, but nobody could complain about the quality of the goal they’d conceded. The free-kick routine from Veron and Zanetti – a routine straight from the training ground – remains one of the most underrated free-kick goals in World Cup history.

#3 Brolin hides in the wall

The most well-known way of defending a free-kick – particularly one that looks likely to be a shot on goal – is by forming a defensive wall. The defending players tend to line up in the sight of the possible shot, looking to deflect the ball while also providing crucial protection for the goalkeeper, who obviously needs to be able to see the shot coming. But in 1994 World Cup, Swedish attacker Tomas Brolin found a way to use Romania’s defensive wall against them.

Recognised as one of Sweden’s more inventive forwards, Brolin had shot to fame by scoring a spectacular goal against England in the 1992 edition of the European Championships. But this free-kick routine was arguably even better. The Quarter-Final match between Sweden and Romania was deep into the second half with the teams deadlocked at 0-0 when Sweden were given a free-kick on the right side of the box.

Romania’s wall lined up, ready to deflect a shot or cross, but failed to notice Brolin lurking slap bang in the middle of them. A dummy allowed a low pass to be slid into the box, and suddenly Brolin spun away from the wall, catching the defence completely off guard, and fired a right-footed shot into the back of the net. This classic set-piece led to an eventual 2-2 draw, with Sweden winning on penalties, but it was by far the most memorable goal of the tie.

#2 Messi, Suarez and the penalty trick

When Barcelona were awarded a penalty in the 81st minute of their February 2016 game against Celta Vigo, it looked like a certainty that Lionel Messi would knock in his 300th La Liga goal – he’d already scored a free-kick earlier in the game, and Barca were comfortably leading the game by three goals to one. Instead, though, the Argentine genius decided to pull off a brilliant trick by setting up Luis Suarez for his hat-trick goal instead.

How did he do it? Rather than shooting, Messi knocked the ball with his left foot across to the right, allowing it to trickle into the path of the onrushing Suarez, who slid the ball past the bewildered Celta goalkeeper and into the back of the net. The goal even took Messi and Suarez’s teammates by surprise, but it had clearly been rehearsed at some point on the training ground.

Maybe the best part? The routine was actually copied from a similar move pulled off by Barca legend Johan Cruyff, while he was playing for Ajax in 1982. In that instance, Cruyff rolled the ball to Jesper Olsen, who then passed it back to the Dutchman for him to score. Thankfully for Messi, his effort ended in a goal and not in the same embarrassing way that Thierry Henry and Robert Pires’s attempt to do the same move for Arsenal in 2005 did – with the ball being cleared prior to any shot.

#1 Rooney, Giggs and Ronaldo’s clever corner

This set-piece routine, unfortunately, didn’t lead to a goal, as the officials taking charge of the Premier League match in 2008/09 between Manchester United and Chelsea simply didn’t understand what United’s trio of stars – Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo – were attempting to do. But upon a rewatch, it’s a true moment of genius from all involved and the goal almost certainly should’ve stood.

Late in the first half, United were awarded a corner. Rooney took the ball over to the corner flag and gently rolled it with his heel, barely moving it and apparently calling for Giggs to take the kick instead. But when Giggs reached the ball, rather than delivering the corner, he dribbled it to the edge of the box before crossing for Ronaldo to head home while Chelsea’s players stood and watched. In reality, Rooney had already taken the corner – it was that gentle roll that everyone had chosen to ignore.

Referee Howard Webb disallowed the goal – apparently proving to be totally clueless as to what United had done – but thankfully justice came through as United re-took the corner, and this time Nemanja Vidic headed a goal instead. In reality, though, this should’ve gone down as one of the all-time great set-piece goals, but even with the goal disallowed, it remains a truly brilliant and creative set-piece routine.