No looky Only Touchy: The best no-look passes of all time

From a simple step over to the extremely difficult rabona, football fans fall head over heels in love and admiration for players who can pull out the most eye catchy, beautiful and effective tricks in their bag. One of such trick often used by football players is the no-look pass. It may not be a very obvious skill like the elastico or a step over, but it is one that often catches the opposition out of position and leaves another player with space to run into. Most players execute the no-look pass by looking in one direction and passing the ball in another, but sometimes players anticipate the run of their teammate and back heel the ball into their path.Here is a look at some amazing no look passes.

#1 Michael Laudrup vs Nigeria

Michael Laudrup loved the no-look passes and therefore it was a dream for strikers to play in front of this Dane. During his time at Barcelona, the Dane has pulled off the trick several times and most of them were for Brazilian striker Romario.

Laudrup’s ability was so good that he even used the trick on a goalkeeper once by looking at one direction to make it seem like he was going to round the keeper, but instead he just rolled it to the other side and into the net as soon as the keeper had committed. His best no-look pass has to be the one he provided to his compatriot Ebbe Sand in a 4-1 win over Nigeria in 1998.

#2 Cristiano Ronaldo vs LA Galaxy

Cristiano Ronaldo has used the no-look pass on several occasions, mostly during his time at Real Madrid. Two of his best executed and famous ones has to be the brilliantly weighted through ball he provided for Kaka against Espanyol and the one he produced against Cameroon.

However, my pick for Cristiano’s best one goes for the one he gave to Alvaro Morata during a preseason friendly match against LA Galaxy. Had Morata finished better, it would have gone down as a brilliant assist.

#3 Ronaldinho vs Strongest

Ronaldinho has to be the master of footballing skills because if there is a trick on the ball that the Brazilian doesn’t know, then it probably doesn’t exist. Ronaldinho has executed the no-look pass on several occasions throughout his career including his time at Barcelona.

The Brazilian sometimes doesn’t even need to move from his spot to deceive his opponent. While playing for Atletico Mineiro, he pulled off two such passes in the same game, one was an assist and the other led to a penalty.

#4 Alexis Sanchez vs Southampton

The South American advent to the Premier League is adding more flair and flamboyance to the league and Arsenal’s summer signing Alexis Sanchez is the latest addition to the South American contingent to light up the Premier League with their skills.

Sanchez’s dribbling and goal scoring abilities haven’t gone unnoticed, but there is a good chance that many may have missed this little piece of skill from the Chilean against Southampton. Tomas Rosicky also executed two such no-look passes later on in the season, so now we know who has been teaching the Czech International.

#5 Ronaldo vs Athletic Bilbao

Like his compatriot Ronaldinho who already made the list, Ronaldo was also renowned for his bag of tricks. The World Cup-winning striker has produced no-look passes on multiple occasions, but unfortunately video evidences of some of his best ones like the one he executed against Villarreal while playing for Real Madrid are hard to get.

The best of the lot available to view is the one he pulled off against Atheltic Bilbao while playing for the Los Blancos.

#6 Oscar vs Liverpool

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the no-look pass is a very common trait among South American footballers and to be more precise among Brazilian footballers.

Chelsea’s Oscar may be having a very subtle season this time around, but this incredible pass from the little Brazilian is proof that he is still capable of producing such moments of magic. Not only did he pass the ball, he also nutmegged Dejan Lovren in the process, sadly for him, Eden Hazard couldn’t round off a brilliant move.

#7 Ibrahimovic vs Bastia

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is renowned for his acrobatic goals and has left his trademark everywhere he has played, but the Swede recently proved that he is also able to produce such acrobatic through balls and that too with his back heel. Ibrahimovic backheeled the ball while it was midway in the air, into the path of Ezequiel Lavezzi and the Argentine made no mistake by latching on to the brilliant pass and then put it into the back of Bastia’s net.

#8 Aaron Hunt vs Hamburger SV

Former Werder Bremen captain Aaron Hunt, who currently plays for high flying Wolfsburg side, rose to fame last season when he showed incredible fair play by asking the referee to overturn a penalty which was wrongly given for an alleged foul on him. But Hunt’s fair play is not the only thing he is famous for.

During his time at Bremen, Hunt produced a magical back heel flick to play his teammate Zlato Junuzovic through in the box and Junozovic scored to give Bremen a derby win over Hamburger SV.

#9 Mesut Ozil vs Granada

Mesut Ozil may be drawing heavy criticism from fans and media alike for his performances for Arsenal as his performance for the Gunners is always being compared to that for Real Madrid.

Ozil was a genius at Real Madrid, he could turn a game around by the scruff with some moments of magic or open up a defense with a pass which has a touch of class written all over it. One such magical pass from Ozil came against Granada when he flicked the ball into Ronaldo’s path while it was still in the air.

#10 Xabi Alonso in training

This video is not from a match, but because of the class of the player who did it and that of the player who was left bamboozled by the pass; it has to make this list. Xabi Alonso’s long passes and vision are well known but little did we know that the Spanish maestro could pull off a no-look pass like this one and that too against Zinedine Zidane.

Not only did Alonso pull a rabbit out of his hat, he also nutmegged Zidane in the process.