10 most magically gifted players of all time

#6 George Best

“It used to annoy me when people thought something I did was a fluke! I remember once playing against Ipswich and I scored direct from a corner. Now I used to practice that. I used to be able to stick them in the net direct from the corner spot nine times out of 10.

“Next day in the press they're saying it's a lucky bloody goal. Anyway, about two weeks later we're playing them in the Cup and in the first five minutes, we get a corner. I took it and thought, 'I'll show you another bloody fluke'. It scraped the angle [of bar and post] on the wrong side.

“If it had gone in, I was going to walk up to the press box, bow and walk off the field. ‘Mr George Best, entertainer extraordinaire, has made his point and will now retire’.”

That was what George Best was all about – a brilliant lad who played the beautiful game on a level, and in a manner, few people could comprehend.

Flying across the pitch, nutmegging people for fun, and scoring whenever he damn well pleased. His magical talent continues to enthrall through videos, books, and stories – it doesn’t matter if you never saw the man live, his legend transcends time.

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#5 Roberto Baggio

He was called “Il Divin Codino”, but it was not his ponytail that was divine. His boots were filled with a magic that at times escaped description. The pony-tailed Buddhist firecracker was a man who defied the stereotypical, bigoted, view of Italian footballers at the time. Inventive and imaginative, the quintessential trequartista played for a number of clubs and wowed crowds everywhere. He had it all in his armoury, dribbling to match the best of them, unparalleled vision, and a keen, underrated, eye for goal.

He detested the organised ‘catenaccio’ of his times and was a strong advocate of allowing footballers to express their imagination. He once so famously said – “It's better to have ten disorganized players than ten organized runners” – and no one did disorganized magic quite like Robbie Baggio.