Jorg Heinrich drove up the middle and dished it wide for Gabriel Batistuta, who stood up Nigel Winterburn, nudged the ball to his right and leathered a shot past David Seaman with the sort of ferocity only the Lion King could muster. Several journalists in the press box -- including yours truly -- placed their hands on their head and, for a moment, stared openmouthed as Ronaldo charged off in celebration. Perhaps among his team-mates at Hebei China Fortune, but rarely in general. As is often the case with incredible goals, there was a brief moment of silence as everyone in attendance momentarily paused to process what they had just seen. They would be right, of course, but they would be missing the fact that ‘flair’, in football’s somewhat arbitrary dictionary, means neither stylishness nor a general aptitude for the sport but the ability to improvise one-on-one skills. Van Persie had developed a knack for scoring outstanding volleys throughout his career but saved his finest for when United wrapped up the title against Aston Villa. Only someone like Ronaldo would decide that it was he, a good six or seven yards away from the trajectory of the ball and facing the wrong way, had the better chance of scoring if he launched himself upside down and six feet in the air, with his back to goal. It came from nowhere, but it will forever be known as one of the greatest goals scored in England. You have to get five or six things exactly right at once: the pass, the movement, the steps, the connection, the direction. You need a bit of luck too because if one thing is slightly off, the ball doesn’t go in. The place: Pasadena, California. “You need to be a bit lucky with those goals because most of them go over or wide. Often attributed to creative attacking midfielders in the Juan Roman Riquelme mould, footballing ‘vision’ is not just the ability to see or foresee events but is specifically about the ability to see or foresee the movement of offensive team-mates — to pick out a pass to an attacker running into space. Pressed deep in his penalty box by a Madrid team playing as if it could overturn a 2-0 aggregate deficit in the second leg of a Champions League semifinal, the goalkeeper daringly lofted a chipped pass to Dani Alves on the right. This in spite of his own assessments. When Arsenal’s Robin van Persie scored a flying volley against Charlton in September 2006, the Dutch striker opened a portfolio of stunning airborne strikes that would become his niche for the next decade. Can you name the 30 Dutch players with the most PL appearances? The brilliance that was this goal began with Victor Valdes. The place: Villarreal, Spain, This was a beautiful, 18-pass move that culminated with a lovely dinked ball into the box, an absurd volleyed back-heel assist and a volleyed finish from a seemingly airborne Kevin-Prince Boateng. He was convinced it would win him the FIFA Puskas Award for goal of the year and told his wife as much. James, whose form in the tournament earned him a move to Real Madrid, scored again in the second half to send Colombia into the quarterfinals. We’d worked on it in training, too.

Instead, the defender must make do with similarly loose terms like ‘anticipation’ or ‘reading of the game’. But his clothes are so plain. The place: Turin, Italy. There are goals that make you say, "wow!" The 2006 – 2007 season started for Van Persie with an amazing volley against Charlton Athletic which made Arsene Wenger say “ It’s a lifetime goal. Nine title-defining signings: Van Persie, Aguero, Kante, Campbell & more. “The ball looked like it would go over the bar so when it came down and in the corner it was unbelievable.”. The move was epitomized Pep Guardiola's Barcelona, who went on to win their second European Cup in three seasons. In creating this playmaker-centric concept of ‘vision’, perhaps we’re doing a disservice to the intelligent, eagle-eyed forwards actually getting on the end of those Hollywood passes. “It’s basically like taking a golf shot, but you’re doing it on the run.

The match: Villarreal 2-1 Las Palmas (2016)

He fed Andres Iniesta, whose NASA-guided through ball was finished by Pedro to effectively end the tie. But his haircut is so simple, they’ll say. Yet his is a kind of ‘vision’ rarely classified in such terms. But in one unforgettable moment, James Rodriguez made it all about him, cushioning the ball on his chest before unleashing a sublime volley from 25 yards that crashed into the net via the crossbar. When you talk about the best atmospheres in world soccer, a meeting between Mexico and the U.S., in front of more than 90,000 at the Rose Bowl, has to be in the conversation. “It was the goal of a lifetime,” said the Frenchman. Remember that incredible scorpion kick? It’s a helpful term, no doubt, differentiating between mere physical passing ability and the slightly more broad term of ‘creativity’, but it’s still a selective one. For Arsenal, Manchester United and the Netherlands, the forward produced thunderous volley after thunderous volley — his impressive M.O. “When I look back on the best moments of my career, that night ranks very high. The genius of a goal like this comes not just from the physical ability to actually do it, but from thinking that it is even possible.

The match: Bayer Leverkusen 1-2 Real Madrid (2002) Robin van Persie: Would I have joined Man Utd if I knew Fergie was retiring? To spot the exact flight of a pass coming from 50 yards is a phenomenal feat of both sight and foresight. There was an unreal element to an FA Cup semifinal at Wembley that kicked off early on a Sunday and featured the first North London derby at that stage of the competition. The match: USA 5-2 Japan (2015) After the Villa strike, Van Persie’s understated opinion was that “the only thing I had to do was time it right and keep my body straight, level with the ball”. Somehow, he found the crease between them as he flicked the ball up with his first touch and met it on his instep with the second, sending a shot over his France international teammate Fabien Barthez. But what of players who have mastered a different kind of ‘vision’ — that of a non-Riquelme variety, but clearly, unambiguously, to do with sight and foresight? People in football like to talk about ‘vision’. It was the second goal of a Van Persie hat-trick, in a game that secured his team the Premier League title. Scarcely more believable was Van Persie’s subsequent dedication to the art form. The place: London.

Tell somebody with no interest in football that Lionel Messi has ‘flair’ — which he undoubtedly does — and they’ll be confused. Wayne Rooney floated a long lofted throughball for Van Persie and he did just what he does best - crashing the ball home on the volley to beat Brad Guzan. The Dutchman hit a first-half hat-trick at Old Trafford to seal the trophy for the Red Devils, but it was his second strike that stood out. Van Persie’s iconic swan dive against Spain at the 2014 World Cup will be remembered as one of the competition’s greatest goals.

Rashford proving to be as heroic on the field as he is off. Relive the FC panel's reaction to Cristiano Ronaldo's overhead kick goal for Real Madrid against Juventus. Perhaps vision is as much about reaction as it is action. “There were so many special moments along the way, but probably the most special was the night we won the title against Aston Villa,” Van Persie told Manchester United’s official website.

Van Persie scored several memorable volleys for Arsenal after the Charlton wondergoal, including two in 2011-12, his final season there. “First, you’re making a run for your space.

The place: London. Meeting a lofted 50-yard pass? -- absolutely no chance. The match: Tottenham 3-1 Arsenal (1991) I have to have a quick look to see roughly where the ball will go. In the latest installment of a multi-part series, they tell the story of the best goal they have seen in person, which include a Cristiano Ronaldo overhead kick, Olivier Giroud's scorpion kick, volleys from Robin van Persie, James Rodriguez and Zinedine Zidane and Carli Lloyd's World Cup final epic. ‘Vision’, however, might be the most confusing of the lot. “You practise these things, you plan them, but when it comes off in a game like that, in the way it did, that’s what you dream of. In a wholly abnormal sense of the word, the Villa goal and Van Persie’s other equally great ones were the result of outstanding and unparalleled vision.

Without that kind of vision, far more of the Dutchman’s wondergoals would have gone “over or wide”. The place: Rio de Janeiro. The match: Mexico 3-2 USA (2015) Goal 50 Fan Vote: Who were the best players of 2019-20?