Left Attacking Midfielder: David Villa
Another supremely gifted and technically brilliant player from Spain’s golden generation, Villa was a deadly finisher at Sporting Gijon, Valencia and Barcelona, scoring over 20 goals in 9 of his seasons as a professional footballer; hitting an impressive 107 goals in just 166 league games for Valencia.
When Villa was just 4, he broke his right femur and the injury was so bad that doctors considered amputating the leg and in the 6 months that followed, Villa got used to relying on his left-foot. The work he put in was at full display in the 2010 World Cup, when Spain faced Chile.
Claudio Bravo raced from his line to tackle Fernando Torres, with the ball falling to Villa 45 yards out and he lofted a perfect left-footed finish into the net.
He finished the tournament as second highest scorer, but since Spain won the tournament, we don’t think he minded too much.
Right Attacking Midfielder: Francesco Totti
When Totti eventually calls it quits in Rome, he will go down as one of the modern legends of the game, having spent his entire career at a single club and rejecting the advances of the likes of Real Madrid, even though he could have had a much more successful club career elsewhere.
Totti made his debut for Roma at the age of just 16 in 1992 and has currently made 770 appearances for the club, scoring 306 goals and generally being an inspiration for aspiring footballers everywhere. In nearly 25 seasons of professional football for the Giallorossi, he only managed to win 5 trophies, finishing runner’s up in competitions an incredible 16 times – 8 being in Serie A – as the 2 Milan clubs and Juventus dominated the domestic scene.
He did however manage to pick up a World Cup with Italy in 2006, and quit the national team after the win.
Totti has made a name for himself due to an exemplary right-foot, but he boasts of an equally gifted left-foot that helped make him the active leading goalscorer in Serie A today.
Striker: Ronaldo Nazario De Lima
Ronaldo was in many ways, the complete striker and would have had many, many more goals if his career hadn’t been stalled with recurring knee injuries. Even after a career marred with injuries, Ronaldo scored 62 goals in just 98 appearances for Brazil and netted over 350 goals at club level for the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Inter Milan.
‘El Fenomeno’ was a natural right-footer, but the Brazilian’s trademark step-overs led him onto his left-foot – usually setting him up for a shot on goal. A deadly finisher with both feet, he made it look easy to slot a goal away approaching from any angle; with his left-foot finish against the Netherlands in the 1998 World Cup semi-finals being a prime example.
Ronaldo’s career is littered with a plethora of both individual and club honours and will be a role-model for aspiring strikers for years to come.
