Cesc Fabregas has made a name for himself as a pass-master and a technically exceptional footballer but he's now a revolutionary too.
The World Cup winner made the move to struggling Monaco from Chelsea in the January transfer window and produced a composed display on his debut against Marseille.
And last night, he starred as the Principality club recorded a huge 2-0 victory over third-placed Lyon to give them a huge boost in their bid to avoid relegation from the second tier.
What an amazing win yesterday against a great team. Come on!! 🙏🏻💪🏻👏🏻 @AS_Monaco
But beyond that, he also conjured up a pass that we genuinely cannot comprehend. All we can say is that by almost standing on the ball with his left foot, the former Arsenal captain fooled Tanguy Ndombele and played the ball right into the path of Aleksandr Golovin.
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Even the man himself is still in awe of the wizardry and sauce he displayed. And when questioned whether he meant it or if it was a heavy touch, he assured us all that his innovation was intentional.
Inventing new ways of passing ⚽️
👉 Cesc Fabregas 👋
Of course I did
While we can't quite explain what he's done exactly or how he's performed it, we're big fans of the magic-like imagination the former Barcelona man exhibited.
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Another high-profile instance of when innovation in a football match came last year when Cristiano Ronaldo scored one of the weirdest penalties ever in the Champions League last 16 first leg win over Paris Saint-Germain.
Ronaldo made no mistake from the spot, with Alphonse Areola getting close to it but the power in the strike being enough for Ronaldo to continue his record of scoring in every Champions League game this season.
"I swear to ya. Crazy. He used to do it." Did he mean it? 🤔 Rio claims he's seen Ronaldo practise that penalty technique before...
At first, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner's penalty looked to be as ordinary as they come but replays showed that before he'd actually struck the ball, it had bounced on the spot.
Ronaldo actually trained to use his bodyweight to get the ball to bounce slightly so he could volley a penalty? That's next level.
However, it wasn't exactly black magic that led to the bizarre spot-kick. According to his former teammate Rio Ferdinand, who was in the BT Sport studio covering the game, Ronaldo used to practice that unusual technique in Manchester United training.
Topics: Football News, Chelsea, FC Barcelona, Football, Ligue One, Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal, Lyon, AS Monaco, World Cup, Spain, France