Luka Modric’s outside out of the boot, trivela pass has been a topic of conversation across the football world as the Croatian forced extra-time against Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-finals before Real Madrid eventually managed to prevail. The Croatian’s impeccable passing has taken kind of everyone by storm and it is no surprise that few prominent playmakers of the game already want to get in the groove and try the same pass for themselves.
Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger hit the headlines against Crystal Palace when he attempted a similar trivela through pass across the midfield but abysmally failed in his approach. Rudiger is currently one of Chelsea’s favourite characters but his attempted ball was far from impressive.
Rudiger’s failed attempt of implementing the trivela would not come across as a concern against Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho, who also tried to pull off the same in an unexpected yet not so shocking 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in the Premier League. Sancho did not get to start the game as Ralf Rangnick attempted a futile change in shape and formation against Liverpool.
The young English winger would have preferred to start the game, especially in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo from the squad, due to the unfortunate loss of his baby boy.
Rangnick’s five-man defence was clearly not working and it desperately needed quicker feet in the second half to make some sort of comeback after a rather disappointing display in the first half. The German manager wasted no time trying to change the game on its head and introduced Jadon Sancho in place of Phil Jones to put extra emphasis on the attack.
While, the move actually worked for a few minutes for the Red Devils, but United always had the danger of getting too ahead of themselves and getting hammered, which they did. Liverpool were extremely quick on transition and scored two more goals in the second half to pull off a comprehensive 4-0 win.
Sancho was a livewire throughout the game, but not that it mattered. The Englishman as mentioned tried to pull off the trivela in the final few minutes of the game when United were already losing 3-0. The former Borussia Dortmund winger tried outside of the boot trivela in the air in an attempt to pick out Marcus Rashford in the box but to hardly anyone’s surprise, the ball simply landed in the safe hands of Alisson Becker at the Liverpool goal.
However, it would be absolutely fair to say that Sancho was one of the best United players on the pitch, despite his failed attempt to create something magical along the lines of Modric’s master class in the Champions League.
As expected, the fans across the world did not hold back while deriding Sancho’s failed attempt. Some even mentioned Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo and how they are miles apart in terms of quality. Memes were all over the British and world football social media as Sancho was being compared to Modric with several pop culture references.