There is nothing quite as beautiful as the perfect free-kick is there? Over the years, we have been blessed with some absolutely superb masters of the dead ball who made a business of scoring from set-piece situations....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
A reliable free kick merchant can prove to be such a valuable asset for any team and so it is no wonder that footballers spend hours upon hours doing their craft.
Here are 5 of the best freekick takers in football.
Lionel Messi
The 35-year-old has scored a total of 58 free-kick goals. Of those 58 goals, 50 have come for Barcelona while eight have come for his national side. Messi’s figure of 58 free-kick goals is just four shy of Diego Maradona’s total of 62 goals from direct free-kicks.
That number, however, is considerably lower than former Lyon and Brazil midfielder, Juninho Pernambucano, who has scored the most free-kick goals in football history.
Cristiano Ronaldo
It is interesting that currently both Messi and Ronaldo have scored 58 freekick goals each in their career so far. And both of them have scored two in a single match on three occasions.
However, Messi is well ahead in the conversation rate than Ronaldo. The Argentine has scored 8.9% of the freekicks that he has taken while Ronaldo has managed 6.2%.
Beckham
Beckham has a total of 65 goals from set-pieces in his career. His free-kick to take England to the 2002 FIFA World Cup is still cherished as one of the best moments in English football.
Pele
The king of football, Pele has scored 70 goals from set-pieces. Pele could bend the ball both ways with fierce power. Moreover, his immense game knowledge to out-think the goal-keeper helped him net the ball more often than not.
Juninho Pernambucano
The Brazilian dead-ball specialist is widely revered as one of the best free-kick takers of all time, with Juninho leaving fans in awe at his brilliance. Juninho scored an incredible 77 times from the free-kick spot in his club football career.
