Where does Trivela come from?
World football has many terms and concepts that characterize the skills that players perform. For example, "Panenka" is used to talk about a penalty kick in which a player performs a chip into the middle of the goal. For example, "Cruyff turn" is used to talk about the turn that the legendary Johan Cruyff once performed. For example, "Rabona" is used for cross-legged kicks... Or a series of skills such as: Puskas V Move, Ronaldo Chop, Step-Over, Back-Heel, Flip-Flap, Fake Kick... And Trivela is one of them.
Trivela is a Portuguese word. But the story of how it came to be used for a soccer move—a kick with the outside of the foot—is unclear. In Brazil, where Portuguese is the official language, this type of kick is called Tres Dedos, because it is performed using the three toes on the outside of the foot. The prefix “tri-” means three of something.
The most widely accepted explanation for the trivela is that it comes from a physical phenomenon called “trivelocidade,” as Professor Salvato Trigo, from the Fernando Pessoa University in the Portuguese city of Porto, explained in 2018. “Perhaps trivela is a shortening of that term. It is difficult to find any other etymological origin for the name, because it only began to be used in the 20th century and is entirely within the world of football,” he wrote.
There is another theory that is less accepted, but equally plausible. According to it, the word trivela was used in Porto to refer to shoes with buckles, which were mainly associated with the upper class. These buckles, called trivelas, were placed on the outside of the shoes, so that kicking would give the ball a spin.
Legendary Brazilian left-back Roberto Carlos, former Portuguese striker Ricardo Quaresma, Real Madrid's Luka Modric and Brazilian attacking midfielder Rivellino - a 1970 World Cup winner - were all masters of the trivela with his free-kicks, shots and passes...
Now it is becoming the brand of Lamine Yamal.
Skills from childhood
In the 2024-2025 La Liga season, up to this point, in 9 assists for teammates at Barcelona to score, the Spanish player has performed the trivela 3 times, in matches against Villarreal, Espanyol and Real Mallorca, in which, the ball at Villarreal's field in September was considered the most beautiful when performed from near the middle of the field.
“Lamine has been playing it since he was very young,” Jordi Font, Yamal’s former coach at Barcelona’s under-10s, tells The Athletic. He still picks Yamal up from his father’s house in Rocafonda, north of Barcelona, to take him to matches. “I think it comes from the street football he grew up playing. Playing on the neighborhood futsal court, where you can use the walls to pass and dribble past players, and being a little bit ‘savage’ (in terms of skill) when playing against older opponents.”
The next person to witness the same thing was Albert Puig two years later, as coach of Barca's Under-12s. “This is not the way we play at La Masia (the club's academy), we are not taught to do it,” he said. “I know that there is a rule in the youth teams at Barca now that they want the boys to play with one or two touches at most. This has its pros and cons, but Lamine got the touch we are talking about by allowing himself more time on the ball.
At that time, Lamine still couldn't do the moves he did at Mallorca because he wasn't strong enough. But the ability to hold the ball, pass the ball and coordinate with teammates, as well as finishing situations... we saw a lot of Lamine using the outside of his left foot."
Mastered at 17
Before any game, Yamal likes to go to YouTube and search for highlight videos from various stars like Neymar, his favorite player as a kid, or Lionel Messi. But trivela comes more naturally. His three trivela assists this season prove it, as they all come in situations where defenders don't expect them.
Like in the match against Villarreal, Yamal received the ball from the right wing of the home field, about 10 meters from the halfway line, watched Raphinha move, ran over the goal line about 5 meters, the 17-year-old player swung his leg, sending the ball high into enough space to eliminate 3 yellow shirt defenders and just enough for his Brazilian teammate to finish and score.
Against Espanyol, also from the right wing, but near the penalty area and with a low shot past two defenders, surprising two others for Dani Olmo to run in and score. With his most recent trivela against Mallorca, Puig stressed that defenders could hardly predict the pass. “If you look at his body shape, it doesn’t look like he’s going to dribble inside with his left foot. The defender tries to create space for him to go down the touchline and cross with his right foot, but he does his ‘trick’,” he said.
The 17-year-old's confidence grew so much that he was willing to attempt a trivela - and nearly did so against Sevilla in October. Yamal picked up the ball on the edge of the opposition penalty area, and surprised everyone with a seemingly impossible shot... Only goalkeeper Orjan Nyland was alert to make a brilliant save.
Get inspired
“Lamine must continue to use the trivela because he has proven it is effective, it is not a fancy touch,” the former Yamal coach continued. “A cross like that is extremely useful to get the ball past defenders, because the curve makes the task of intercepting the pass more difficult. Lamine will continue to try new things because his skill set allows him to do things that others cannot think of.”
Puig agrees that creativity, along with physical development, will define Lamine. “Not to compare him to Messi, because I think that would be bad for Lamine, but if you look at how he started at Barca and how he is now, it’s completely different. Messi has gone from being a very explosive winger to a player who can control his physicality, read the game and move more centrally, giving Barca an incredible weapon.
We don't know exactly what kind of player Lamine will develop into, but he has the talent and intelligence to keep trying new things and turning them into the most useful football at all times."
After his latest trivela against Mallorca, Yamal was asked by TV3: "Is there a way to make passes like you do in video games?". Yamal, an avid gamer, laughed and replied: "Yes! Just press L2 and pass (X), try it!".
The morning after the match, Barcelona woke up to images of Yamal on the streets. Local artist Miki Noelle turned a photo of Yamal performing the trivela into a sticker and stuck it on a wall in the Gracia district. Noelle has made several Barça stickers this season, illustrating their best moments so far under new coach Hansi Flick.
Yamal's sticker, which read "L2 + X", referring to the action performed on the PlayStation, quickly went viral on social media. Yamal himself saw it, shared it, and changed it to his Instagram profile picture for a week.
It is believed that this will not be the last time Yamal's trivelas are celebrated in Barcelona.
