B

Throwing yourself backwards in the air and kicking the ball over your head while cycling your legs. Also called an overhead kick or scissors kick. It's difficult, risky, and when it comes off, nothing looks better. Most commonly used for shots but defenders sometimes clear the ball this way too. Pelé, Hugo Sánchez, and Ronaldo have all scored famous ones.

Someone who performs best when the stakes are highest - cup finals, title deciders, derbies. The term is either a compliment or a backhanded way to say someone goes missing in important matches. Players like Ramos and Drogba built reputations on delivering in finals. Others get labeled as players who only turn up against smaller teams.

Running into space behind a defender when they're focused on the ball or another player. Defenders can't watch everything at once, and the blindside run exploits that. Timing matters - move too early and they'll spot you, too late and the pass is gone. Strikers who are good at this seem to appear in dangerous positions out of nowhere. Agüero made a career of it.

Faking to go one direction with your body to send a defender the wrong way, then going the other. Simpler than skill moves but effective - you just drop a shoulder or shift your weight and the defender reacts. Good dribblers do it constantly at speed, barely even thinking about it. Less showy than stepovers or elasticos but more reliable for actually getting past people.

Choking under pressure. Blowing a lead, collapsing in the title race, or failing when it matters most. "To bottle it" means you couldn't handle the moment. Teams get labelled as bottlers based on historical collapses, and the tag sticks even after they win something. Central to football banter, especially for fanbases with painful near-misses in their history.