7 times football tricked us including Liverpool XI, Man Utd's demise and Ronaldo

Remember the start of the 2002 World Cup, when Brazilian superstar Ronaldo emerged for the first game of the tournament with a truly bizarre haircut? No you don't.

The haircut itself wasn't a fever dream, of course, but the timing was. It wasn't until deep into the knockout stages, with Brazil preparing for a semi-final against Turkey, that the new do got its debut.

It's hard to pinpoint the reasons for the confusion - maybe it comes down to the fact that Brazil's opening game was also against Turkey - but it's something a number of football fans have admitted to being baffled about.

Here we have football's Mandela Effect moments.

Ronaldo's haircut

One of the pre-tournament stars before the 1998 World Cup, Ronaldo's illness was one of the big stories ahead of Brazil's defeat to France in the final. In 2002, though, his injuries were the key factor.

The Inter Milan forward had been sidelined for the entire 2000-01 season and only managed a handful of games in 2001-02. However, his goalscoring form and apparent sharpness in that period made him a natural pick for the Selecao, though his fitness remained the topic of discussion - hence the haircut.

"My groin was hurting [going into the World Cup]. I was only at 60%. So I shaved my head," Ronaldo later told ESPN Brasil. "Everybody was only talking about my injury. When I arrived in training with this haircut everybody stopped talking about the injury."

Perhaps there was so much conversation around the haircut that, after the fact, it's been impossible to conceive of all that taking place in just one week. Either way, we're still not discussing the injury.

Spice Boys

Cast your mind back to 1996. The FA Cup final at Wembley. Liverpool's players stepping out in cream suits which certainly caught the eye.

The nickname wrote itself, really. We were at the height of Cool Britannia, and the Spice Girls were top of the charts, so 'Spice Boys' was the obvious moniker.

Except the Spice Girls *weren't* top of the charts. They hadn't even released their first single, with Wannabe only topping the charts in the autumn.

How did we get so confused? Well, the Spice Boys nickname did follow the likes of David James and Jamie Redknapp around, but not until later.

Fabrizio Ravanelli in England

Don't worry, this isn't us about to tell you Fabrizio Ravanelli was never known as the White Feather. However, we might still leave you feeling confused.

You all remember the Italian bursting onto the scene with Middlesbrough, scoring a hat-trick on debut and forming part of an exciting-if-flawed Boro team. Unless you're a Derby County fan, though, your memories of his time in the east midlands will likely be less vivid.

Remembering Derby signed Ravanelli isn't even a given. So it may surprise you to learn he played more games for the Rams than for his previous English club.

Yes, it's true. 53 games for Derby compared to just 50 in a Middlesbrough shirt. He scored twice as many goals for the latter, mind you.

Young Fish Costa Fortune

It was a great line to be able to recite. 'Young Fish Costa Fortune' is up there with 'One Size Fitz Hall' as one of those footballing phrases that rolls off the tongue.

When Charlton Athletic signed Portuguese defender Jorge Costa in 2001, it set them up for that immortal defensive line. Luke Young had joined from Tottenham Hotspur over the summer, while South African International Mark Fish had been there since 2000 and academy talent Jon Fortune was establishing himself in the first-team.

However, that was never the Charlton back four. Chris Powell was the Addicks' starting left-back at the time, and he started in all but two of Costa's games for the club, with Paul Konchesky in for the pair he missed.

The famous quartet only played a handful of games in the same XI, either in a back five or with one of the centre-backs slotting into midfield on those occasions, and were never a back four. Young Fish Costa Powell doesn't have the same ring to it, though.

Liverpool's 2019-20 XI and Porto's front three

Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Matip, Robertson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Henderson, Salah, Mane, Firmino. A dominant Liverpool XI, and one which led Jurgen Klopp's side to Premier League glory in 2019-20.

Or so you'd think. In fact, as noted by The Analyst, this XI never started a league game together. Sometimes it was Matip missing, with Joe Gomez at centre-back, while on other occasions it was Adrian instead of Alisson in goal, but we never had all 11 players together.

How about that exciting Porto front three of Falcao, Hulk and James Rodriguez? You know, the one that helped the Portuguese side develop a new set of fans from across Europe.

They started just three European games together. That's right, three. Ever. Maybe the presence of another Rodriguez - Cristian - confused people after the fact.

'Quickly, Kevin'

The commentary from Brian Moore in 1998 has gone down in memory, so much so that it has even spawned a podcast of the same name. Except, as it turns out, memory isn't always memory.

We all know how it went. During England's penalty shoot-out against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup, with David Batty running up to the spot, Brian Moore turned to Kevin Keegan and asked "Quickly, Kevin, will he score?".

Well, not quite. Keegan did indeed back Batty to score - wrongly, as we all know - but the approach wasn't quite the same.

"Now you know him better than anybody. Do you back him to score? Quickly, yes or no?" doesn't have the same ring to it, in fairness.

Denis Law relegating Man Utd

Considering the prevalence of this myth, it might be more of a case of information being handed down with errors included. Still, it's become apparent common knowledge enough to merit inclusion.

The story you've heard is probably the simple one. Denis Law, a European Cup winner with Manchester United in 1968, scored the goal which relegated them six years later. You may have even seen the footage of Law with his head bowed, unwilling to celebrate after what he did.

Well, some of the components are accurate. Law did score against United in May 1974, and he did refuse to celebrate.

The bit about his goal relegating United, though? Not quite. Results elsewhere meant that even a United victory against Law's Manchester City wouldn't have been enough to keep them up.

Netherlands forward Lineth Beerenstyn used to be called 'Berenstain'

Nah, not really. That one's just a joke.