Conceding fouls, especially at the edge of the area, it was never an option to stop them. Leaving them alone, face to face before the ball without opposition, has always been a risk because there, at the exact point where they wanted to send the ball, they lodged it with a high percentage of success. It is difficult to gauge who has been the best free-kick taker in the history of football and for different tastes, but judging by the objectivity of numbers, this would be the top-10.
1
Zico
101 goals
His right hand put it in from any angle. Gone are the days of Zico, who between 1971 and 1994 entertained the fans and his teammates in Flamengo, Udinese, Kashima and the Brazilian team, but if we go by numbers, the Brazilian is the best pitcher in history with 101 goals from direct free kicks, although with an asterisk. He himself says that he scored a hundred, although other statistics lower the figure to 62. We will have to trust his word…
two
Juninho Pernambuco
76 goals
Impossible not to associate his name with that of direct free kicks. Whatever the distance, Juninho Pernambucano telegraphed the trajectory of the ball with the right height and placed it. The Brazilian reached 76 free-kick goals in his career, 44 of them in that lyons who unrivaled dominated the French league between 2002 and 2008 with seven titles. He was never able to take advantage of the supernatural precision of the midfielder to get past the quarterfinals in the Champions League.
3
Pele
70 goals
Of course, it has to be another Brazilian who closes the podium. O’Rei he dominated the ball in every way and also gave it the right position and power when he stopped it to convert direct free kicks, up to 70. Santos and the Brazilian team, where he became the only player so far to have won three World Cups, the great beneficiaries of this striker art.
4
Victor Legrotaglie
66 goals
Another very ‘vintage’ player, and from Pelé’s generation, having been born just three years earlier, in 1937. Set pieces were candy for him and he savored up to 66 goals from direct free kicks, still being the Argentine with the highest score in this facet in the absence of being caught Messi. He developed his entire career in Argentina between Gymnastics and Fencing, Chacarita Juniors and Atlético Argentino among other teams.
5
Ronaldinho
66 goals
He dropped from his best level soon and at 28 years old he had already forgotten the Ronaldinho who above all amazed between 2005 and 2006 but still managed to reach 66 free-kick goals –19 with Barca-, and close the top-5. His creativity had no limits and, at Barça, he surprised the goalkeepers on several occasions with low fouls like the one he endorsed against Werder Bremen in a match that qualified Barça for the round of 16 of the 06-07 Champions League. To delirium, the one that gave the victory against Real Sociedad in the last minute in 03-04.
6
david beckham
65 goals
Football is sometimes casually capricious and after Ronaldinho comes the star who in this case signed Madrid that same summer 2003 and for which Barça also bid. He had a glove without a doubt and reached 65 goals from a direct free kick to stay just one behind the Brazilian but also in this facet the Barça club did better with the signing of ‘Dinho’ than that of ‘Becks’: only 7 goals from this way as white for Ronaldinho’s 19 at Barça.
7
Diego Armando Maradona
62 goals
The ‘Fluff’ had all the tributes and we must remember that, like his successor, he also did what he wanted with the ball set and retired with 62 points from direct free kicks. The most remembered, one that marked him with the Naples to Juventus in the 85-86 season. More than because of the distance –it was inside the area-, because of the impossible angle that he gave when drawing an impossible parabola to the short stick. He was in this case of indirect free kick but he deserves to be the most remembered because his parable continues without explanation except for Maradona.
8
ronald koeman
60 goals
As a good total footballer to the liking of Cruyff, Koeman was known not only for helping to avoid goals as a defender but also for putting them in and celebrated 60 fouls in his career. Whether he’s a Barça fan or not, it goes without saying which shot Ronald is most remembered for. That shot in the final of the 1992 European Cup against Sampdoria -although it was indirect-, he did not draw too much parabola but it was the perfect one to circumvent Pagliuca’s pigeon and become immortal. he converted 26 fouls like azulgrana.
9
Rogerio Ceni
59 goals
Never had a goalkeeper had so much work to do in the opponent’s area apart from his own and the Brazilian international retired as the highest scoring goalkeeper in history with 113 goals, 59 of them free kicks that place him in the historical top-10. Every goal of his from a direct free kick was one more eccentricity in the world of football as well as, of course, a relief for his coach at the end of the play if he didn’t send her out. He developed his entire career in the Sbye Paul between 1993 and 2015.
10
Marcelinho Carioca
59 goals
A Brazilian opens the list and another closes the top-10. Although he is the least known of the top 10, Carioca, who scored 59 free-kick goals in his career, had an ephemeral spell in the Valencia in the 97-98 season, although only playing five games. The midfielder developed a large part of his career in Brazil with Corinthians. His skill at free kicks inspired Marcos Assuncao.
eleven
Leo Messi
58 goals
The best free-kick taker in recent times narrowly missed out on the top-10 with 58 goals, 50 of them with Barça. The gestures of desperation of the rival coaches are well known when one of his players grants a direct free kick in the front, although he put them from further away like the one who nailed the Liverpool in the semifinals of the 2019 Champions despite the dramatic end of that tie. He has only scored one this season in a last year of difficult adaptation to PSG due to injuries, but his latest performances suggest that there is a long way to go to finish and you can keep fattening up your numbers.
twenty-one
Cristiano Ronaldo
57 goals
In second place outside the top-10 and, very close to Messi, just one goal away with 57, he is followed by Cristiano, who again celebrated with United in April two years later a free-kick goal, a facet in which he has lost touch over time. The reliability of the Argentine is higher than that of a Cristiano who, with his ambition and impressive physical condition, can continue to score goals from set pieces despite his 37 years. His personal stamp, his previous position to throw with his legs spread and that dizzying effect in which the ball, hardly turning on itself, comes down suddenly and is a headache for the goalkeepers. Other masters of this art who do not enter the top-10 by figures but who deserve to be remembered are Roberto Carlos, Andrea Pirlo, Marcos Assunçao and Sinisa Mihajlovic.
Toni Canyameras
