It works by having the attacker push the ball away from themselves with the outside of the foot, in order to sucker a defender into believing they are going to dribble one way. Once the defender buys the dummy, the attacker immediately wraps their foot around the ball and then speeds off in the opposite direction. The elastico is a classic three-act magic trick: now you see the ball, now the ball is gone, now the ball has reappeared here.