1) Michael Laudrup

When Jay Sherman needed a quick way of dodging a furious Rainier Wolfcastle, he pointed at his shoes and told him that his laces were undone. On closer inspection, they were loafers, but Sherman’s sleight of hand emphasised that if you need to avoid someone, just make them look the other way.

For example, if you found that intro dull or contrived, then the Joy of Six apologises profusely and … look over there! No, not there! There! That’s it. Look over there. Don’t worry, you’ll see it eventually. Just keep looking.

See? Now you can’t remember what you were annoyed about and you presumably feel as confused as the defenders of Brighton & Hove Albion did when Tomas Rosicky produced his no-look pass against them last month. He told them to look one way, like a prankster switching the signs on the road around, and then shuffled off in the other direction to batter a spectacular volley past David Stockdale from the edge of the area.

Not everyone is smitten with the no-look pass, arguing that it is a pointless trinket that achieves little of any significance beyond providing material for a YouTube showreel. Yet it is the height of cockiness, an act of showboating machismo that reveals someone who is utterly at ease in their surroundings and a wonderfully dismissive way of imposing your superiority on the opposition, like Roger Federer announcing plans to play with one hand tied behind his back – and still winning. Phil Neville joked that he would have two-footed anyone who had tried it on him in training, but the no-look pass should be encouraged; we need more mischief on the pitch, not less. Football is meant to be fun.

And not many players have provided as much fun as Michael Laudrup. Just look at him running through on goal for Barcelona against Real Madrid. He’s already sat the goalkeeper down and then, by cocking his head to the right, he forces his victim to move his body that way, making it appear that Laudrup is going to attempt to round him and score. But it’s all a ruse. Instead Laudrup rolls the ball to his left,

Laudrup loved the no-look pass. Romário loved Laudrup’s no-look passes. He even did it in the World Cup, setting up Ebbe Sand’s goal in Denmark’s 4-1 win over Nigeria in 1998 with a lovely scoop.

2) Ronaldinho

As Jim discovered when he unnerved Dwight Schrute by staring at his forehead instead of meeting his eyeline, you can throw people with your eyes. Strikers like to give goalkeepers when they are through on goal, looking in the direction of one corner and then stroking the ball into the opposite side – Stewart Downing’s goal against Hull City last month is a good example – and the same principle can be applied to the no-look pass. Some footballers need to look down at the ball when they play a pass. The best play with their head up and then, if they want to throw caution to the wind, comes the ultimate test of their mind-foot coordination. That was never much of a challenge for Ronaldinho, another master of the no-look pass. How often have we seen him deceive an opponent simply by standing in one spot, not even moving the ball, his legs wiggling this way and that, his eyes determined to lead the defender up the wrong path? A defender should never look Ronaldinho in the eye. It won’t end well.

3) Ronaldo

If the rabona feels like more of an Argentinian skill, then the no-look pass is arguably more Brazilian (although Alexis Sánchez has done it for Arsenal – here against Southampton. It’s a Ronaldinho trademark, Robinho did it for Milan, David Luiz did it twice when Chelsea beat Aston Villa 8-0 in 2012 – and Ronaldo did it for Real Madrid in the galáctico era, looking to his left and stabbing the ball to his right to send David Beckham through on goal against Villarreal, only for Beckham to fire his shot past the far post.

4) Xabi Alonso

Zinedine Zidane is not supposed to get nutmegged. It’s like using spin against Shane Warne or shouting nonsense really loudly to win an argument with Robbie Savage. This is a man who once spent an entire World Cup quarter-final keeping himself amused by embarrassing assorted Brazil players by unleashing his full array of flicks and tricks on the poor unsuspecting sods, yet Xabi Alonso is clearly no respecter of reputations, as he proved with this no-look nutmeg on Zidane during a Real Madrid training session. The cheek! It was not quite as startling as John O’Shea’s nutmeg on Luis Figo in 2003 or as brilliant as Juan Mata’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it effort on Raúl Albiol in 2010, and Alonso is a pretty special player too, but it was on Zidane. Zidane! You are not supposed to nutmeg Zidane.

5) Cristiano Ronaldo

The remarkable efficiency and sheer physical power of Cristiano Ronaldo can make it easy for people to forget that he also has a sprawling imagination. Ronaldo invented a new way of taking free-kicks, he scored this outrageous backheeled volley against Valencia and only the tomfoolery of Nani prevented him from scoring one of the finest dinks of the past 10 years in Portugal’s friendly victory over Spain in 2010, so while being a creator comes a distant 432nd to his primary function as a goalscorer, it is not a surprise that he has the no-look pass in his repertoire.

One caveat, though. This being Ronaldo, it is possible to detect a certain self-consciousness to this effort for Madrid against Espanyol and this one for Portugal against Holland. Whereas most players simply glance in the other direction when they play the pass, Ronaldo turns his head and looks behind his shoulder, as if he is making sure the crowd is watching and appreciating his magnificence, like an actor cracking a gag in a film and then turning to the camera to give the audience a knowing wink – yes, I really am this great. Yes, he really is that great.

6) Ricky van Wolfswinkel

This is very David Dunn. The no-look pass is not for everyone.