I can still remember rushing home from school in June 2002 to watch England take on Brazil. Twelve years old and deeply immersed in the World Cup for the first time in my life, it was 1-1 at half-time after Rivaldo had cancelled out Michael Owen's opener.

And then it happened. Brazil were awarded a free kick on the right-hand side of the field, some 40 yards from goal. A young Ronaldinho stands over the ball as his teammates position themselves on the edge of the area, waiting expectantly for a cross that would never come.

Top of the world: Ronaldinho in his Barcelona days. Credit:BERNAT ARMANGUE

He does the unthinkable – he shoots. Nobody sees it coming, certainly not goalkeeper David Seaman, who meekly stumbles backwards as the perfectly placed ball sails over his head and into the back of the net, just inside the left post.

Did he mean it? Was that a shot?