Becoming a professional footballer is incredibly difficult.

A minuscule percentage of those who try actually end up succeeding and even then, only a select few make it to the very top.

The physical and mental attributes required to reach the highest level of professional football in the modern era are borderline ridiculous.

You have to be lightning-quick with and without the ball, while also possessing razor-sharp reflexes in order to get the better of an opponent.

When watching on television, it looks to the naked eye as if that's relatively easy, but it's when you watch a professional game from the touchline that you see how quick the best players really are.

One video that highlights that perfectly is fan footage of Philippe Coutinho playing for Liverpool in a 7-0 win over Spartak Moscow at Anfield in the 2017/18 Champions League group stage.

Coutinho scored a hat-trick in the game and a supporter managed to capture a close-up view of the Brazilian tormenting the Spartak team before one of his goals - and it is incredible to watch.

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The only annoying aspect of the video is the fact a supporter in front stands up right before Coutinho and Liverpool score.

That's the only downside, though, with Coutinho's pirouette to leave a Spartak defender chasing shadows a thing of beauty.

The speed at which he performed that move and the rest of the sequence is breathtaking and football fans in the comment section have rightly acknowledged that.

"It's when you're pitch side that the gulf in quality between elite level professional football and Saturday league is most apparent," one supporter wrote.

"They should show this angle on TV - incredible," another commented and that's something we would absolutely love to see happen.

A third added: "This 15 seconds proves that football is a profession. The sharpness is mad."

We all criticise professional footballers when they're performing badly and given the money most of them earn, that's fair enough to be honest.

But it's always worth remembering just how difficult the sport is to play at the highest level and what these guys go through to entertain millions around the world.

(Credit: The Football Terrace)