Five iconic dribbles in the history of Barça (before Lamine Yamal's one)

BarcelonaThe dribble prior to the 1-3 against Galatasaray that Lamine Yamal made went viral in a few minutes. Social media did not stop reproducing and expanding across the planet a fantasy play: a rabona on the run, with a bit of luck on the rebound, to make his defender dance and end up assisting Anthony Gordon. Social media is eager for these types of content: views multiply by the second, jumping from one device to another.

With his magic-filled play against Galatasaray, the winger from Rocafonda invented a new dribble, but before that, other illustrious blaugranas had already viralized plays, some contemporaneously and others, in the 90s, before the rise of the Internet. Below we rescue five magnificent ones that have remained in the retina of every Barça fan.

Romário's cow tail

Pure talent at the service of Barça. The name that describes the dribble is accurate: cows turn their tails 180 degrees to scare away flies. Romário did it to Alkorta, who would forever be haunted by this action against the eternal rival, and ended up beating Buyo to open the scoring in a 5-0 thrashing of Real Madrid in front of an euphoric Camp Nou.

Ronaldo Nazário's elastic

On August 25, 1996, at the Olympic Stadium in Montjuïc, the Brazilian made his debut in the blue and garnet shirt in the Spanish Super Cup. In the 75th minute, he performed an elastic move, leaving Delfí Geli, the current president of Girona and then a defender for Atlético de Madrid, stunned. The play ended with an assist to Ivan de la Peña, who scored the fourth goal of the rout against the 'colchoneros' (5-2). Furthermore, Ronaldo scored a brace that day.

Ronaldinho at Stamford Bridge

In a vibrant Champions League knockout tie, Ronaldinho woke Frank Rijkaard's Barça from their nightmare at the home ground of a team Blues managed by José Mourinho, which would end up knocking the blue-and-granes out of the competition: that second leg ended 4-2, and the aggregate score of the tie was 5-4 for the British side. The Brazilian star froze time before the break at the edge of the area to feint a shot in front of Carvalho's defense and leave Cech stunned with the toe-poke more plastic than has surely ever been seen. It was the 3-2, which brought back the hope to the blaugranas of advancing to the quarterfinals.

The definitive consecration of Messi

In a list clearly dominated by Brazilians, Messi breaks the rule. In the Copa del Rey, at only nineteen years old, he started from midfield, performing a slalom that recalled Maradona's goal against England in the 1986 Mexico World Cup. Not only did the play become an iconic—and viral—goal in the history of Barça and football, but so did the commentary for Catalunya Ràdio by Joaquim Maria Puyal. The Blaugranes won 5-2 against Getafe at the Camp Nou in the semifinals of the Cup, but they fell 4-0 in the return leg and were eliminated.

Neymar against Villarreal

Let's return to the Brazilians. Lamine Yamal's main inspiration, as stated by himself, is Neymar. The Brazilian player, at the end of a career that has reached decline too soon, has a long history of dribbles worthy of a video game. On November 8, 2015, at Camp Nou, in a League match against Villarreal where Messi was not present, Neymar invented a delightful sombrero flick to overcome his defender, with his back turned, and score the final 3-0.