Top Free Kick Takers of All-Time

Discussion in 'Players & Legends' started by Lucas..., Jan 9, 2013.

  1. MPALACIOS10

    MPALACIOS10 Member

    Barcelona
    Argentina
    Apr 21, 2019
    The list of "44 free kicks of Lyon"
    https://www.ol.fr/Contents/Articles/2009/05/25/juninho-ses-chiffres-lyonnais-11308
    Season 2005-06
     
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  2. babaorum

    babaorum Member+

    Aug 20, 2005
    Marseille
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    #277 babaorum, Jul 31, 2019
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2019
    I' ve found another free-kick with Saint-Etienne at 2 mn 40 :



    That makes 43 free-kicks scored... still counting as dozens of goals remain unchecked, mainly with Nancy (3 certain free-kicks there until now but he most likely has scored many more in the 7 seasons he spent there, as Nancy is the place where he earned his reputation of FK maestro. The fact he scored 5 out his 11 free-kicks with France during his Nancy years seems to suggest he was quite prolific at that time).
    Assuming his ratio in Nancy was the same as the average of his Saint-Etienne + Juve seasons + France NT (1 FK scored every 6 goals), we can assume he's around the 60 figure (more or less).

    Anyway, wainting for more informations, he seems to have had a better accuracy in his France years than in his Italy years (14 FK in 3 seasons with Saint-Etienne vs 15 FK in 5 seasons with Juve).
     
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  3. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    @peterhrt

    Pierre van Hooijdonk should get far more credit than is usually the case.



    https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/van-hooijdonk-strikes-fear-into-given-1.1096419
    https://www.theguardian.com/football/2002/sep/24/championsleague.sport1

    The free kick past Buffon at 18 september 2002 was the 50th of his career.

    Transfermarkt shows 12 more past that point so at the least 62, but more likely above 70.

    He also did it against the bigger names: Buffon, Casillas, Lehmann, Van der Sar, Schmeichel at their peak (among others), and in various finals (the 2002 UEFA Cup final for example). With those numbers and those goalkeepers beaten, is he really significantly worse than Juninho?

    Funnily, he himself estimated his free kick count on two occasions far too low. In 2006 against 'De Volkskrant' he said fifty, against 'De Voetbaltrainer' in 2011 he said "I think forty-five, fifty." That's too low in numbers.
     
  4. Bavarian14

    Bavarian14 Member

    Bayern München
    Jun 1, 2017
    Do you have any clue about the average fouls per game in French League during 70's? That can be indicative of something
     
  5. babaorum

    babaorum Member+

    Aug 20, 2005
    Marseille
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    No i don't. Maybe @wm442433 has an idea about his.
     
  6. peterhrt

    peterhrt Member+

    Oct 21, 2015
    Club:
    Leeds United AFC
    He is one of the twenty or so men identified in this thread as likely to have scored 50 or more goals from direct free kicks. Could be 70+ as you say. He may also have most free-kick goals in a season: 14 in 44 matches for Feyenoord during 2001-02.

    Comparisons here often come down to personal preference. Whether the preference is for power, swerve, dip, distance, acute angles, "surprise" element, importance of the game, quality of defence, etc.

    How do Dutch sources compare van Hooijdonk with Ronald Koeman?
     
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  7. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    The quality of the goalkeeper has to be an important 'objective' factor in my mind. Maybe also the height of the wall (northern people = taller).

    For the national team he placed one free kick past Dida, but also 'normal' open play goals past Southall (a brace) or the strong Czech Republic team of Petr Cech (another brace - both were competitive games).

    Koeman is at 60 free kicks (or better) and has scored some important ones as well against various excellent goalkeepers (Pagliuca at Wembley, Seaman for the WC94 qualifiers). They're both seen in the same sort of category I think but some argued Koeman had more variation in his free kicks. With the laces, the instep, the toes. Fast and soft (the free kick past Seaman was a 'slow' free kick). Great passer and effective assister from open play he was too.

    Also excellent in free kicks was Frank de Boer when he took them. He had the level that Van Hooijdonk didn't mind to defer to him and rated his capacity. Frank de Boer also by a distance the player who was most often captain, which is saying something about a group of opinionated professionals (= the 'classic' stereotype) rating his primus inter pares role (and no doubt he was missed at euro 1996, and the euro 2004 semi final when he got injured mid-tournament).

    Van Hooijdonk said he justs wants to contribute to winning matches. If it is by scoring goals, fine. "If I have to sit on the goal line, also fine."
     
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  8. Bavarian14

    Bavarian14 Member

    Bayern München
    Jun 1, 2017
    Sad there's no proper compilation of his free kicks
     
    _Ziggy_ repped this.
  9. wm442433

    wm442433 Member+

    Sep 19, 2014
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Neither do I, sorry.
     
  10. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    Nice goals nonetheless. That 'fadeaway header' at 4:24 was the injury time equalizer in the 2002 quarter finals.

    This one has only free kicks:


    Here one at 0:40 very early in his career (goal at 0:12 also not too bad)

    (he scored in 11 consecutive league games, still an all-time record; including other matches he scored in 14 consecutive matches - all competitive games)

    The video omits however the one past Buffon, among others. I like it how Buffon is totally wrong-footed and doesn't move.



    Either way, he is of course not in the Koeman, Beckham (Ronaldinho free kicks) atmosphere as an overall player but as a free kick he's up there with the best imho. In goalkeepers beaten, the height of the wall, and the stage of it. Potentially also as a proportion of total attempts, next to e.g. Juninho playing for a domestically dominant team (7 titles in a row).

    Maybe there's an argument about the variation in free kicks, but for example with that last one of your video the commentator says "that is beyond his possibilities", and then proved them wrong. Often commentators voiced it was beyond his one trick pony repertoire, and it wasn't.
     
    _Ziggy_ repped this.
  11. PrimoCalcio

    PrimoCalcio Member

    Milan/Napoli
    Italy
    Oct 14, 2019
    To provide a case for Pirlo's inclusion in Tier 2, I count his tally at 44 official FK goals.

    28 Serie A FK goals (official, record highest shared with Mihaljovic)
    8 Italy FK goals (Tunisia, Scotland x2, Georgia, Faroe Islands, Croatia, San Marino, Mexico)
    5 UCL FK goals (Deportivo, Celtic, Schalke, Benfica, Olympiacos)
    2 UEL FK goals (Fiorentina, Lyon)
    1 MLS FK goal
    = 44 official goals

    If you add his FK winner against Czechoslovakia at U21 Euro 2000, his tally rises to 45.



    There's also something to be said about variety of techniques Pirlo used to score and from varying distances and angles.

    Textbook curlers, knuckle balls, deadleaf, under-the-wall, straight arrow, near or far post, etc... you name it.

    Because he played his entire career in Serie A, the vast majoirity if his FKs came against top quality goalkeepers and in very competitive, meaningful games.

    His domestic record vs top teams is impressive: 2FK goals vs Milan, 1 vs Juve, 1 vs Inter, 1 vs Roma, 1 vs Napoli


    Pirlo was also known to score clutch moments ie. U21 Euro Final, vs. Lyon UEL, vs Fio UEL, vs. Olypmiacos UCL, vs. Genoa Serie A, vs Cagliari Serie A
    In derbies vs Inter and Torino and in major International tournaments.

    If he wasn't competing with the likes of Shevchenko, Rui Costa, Seedorf, Kaka, Ronaldinho, and Beckham at Milan, it's possible he may have scored more than he did while in Rossoneri colours.

    All in all, Pirlo lacks the numbers that some other Tier 2 candidates have (though 44 is a respectable tally), but sheer numbers don't necessarily tell the whole story.

    It would be very interesting to see the conversion rates of all these FK masters.
     
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  12. PDG1978

    PDG1978 Member+

    Mar 8, 2009
    Club:
    Nottingham Forest FC
    Thanks for the rep of my Haynes/Platini/Rivera post on the 'best passers' thread mate that I was surprised to see today (as it's from 2013 - I guess you had a good look through various threads on these kind of topics!).

    Nice post about Pirlo's free-kick variety and numbers - good contribution to the thread definitely. I don't know whether you agree, but I seem to remember one phase where he became a bit less adept at getting them on target and maybe it was indeed when he decided to try the 'new age' knuckleball style and was therefore skying a few over the bar by a margin etc (perhaps in a few Champions League games I was watching). I didn't see the video yet but I guess he did score a few with that method too though. I'd have thought probably the curled free-kick was his best version as he could be really accurate with those types IIRC, but not sure if you feel the same.
     
  13. PrimoCalcio

    PrimoCalcio Member

    Milan/Napoli
    Italy
    Oct 14, 2019
    Yes, haha, definitely have been browsing lately.

    You're memory serves you well. Pirlo started to use the knuckle-ball technique frequently in 2004-05, scoring many in the process. In the video, the shift in technique is clear, scoring knucklers vs Juve, Udinese, Lecce, Schalke, and Messina all in the same season (I believe, not 100% sure).

    But when Pirlo executed the technique poorly he often missed by a large margin, sending the ball into orbit.

    In Pirlo's autobiography (which I've read), he states he 'unlocked the secret' of the knuckleball by obsessively watching videos of Juninho Pernambucano, who he claims is the 'the King' of freekicks. He would stay late after training (I think with Abbiati) skying freekick after freekick trying to master the technique (prompting jokes from Abbiati) until one knuckler flew straight into the top corner.

    The classic curler is also my favourite, but some of the knucklers Pirlo scored are works of art, such as Milan vs. Lecce, Milan vs. Schalke, Milan vs Cagliari (away), and Juve vs Napoli.

    *Bonus* Italy vs England WC14 which struck the crossbar.
     
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  14. Toguchi

    Toguchi Member

    Atlético Mineiro
    Brazil
    Dec 1, 2019
    Belo Horizonte
    Marcelinho Carioca was the terror of many goalkeepers in Brazil during the 90's.

     
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  15. Luque1967

    Luque1967 New Member

    Torino
    Italy
    Dec 3, 2019
    Good evening
    In seria A Platini scored 15 FK
    In Coppa Italia scored 1 FK
    Here all in one videos
     
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  16. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord


    Haha, this is quite funny.
     
  17. MPALACIOS10

    MPALACIOS10 Member

    Barcelona
    Argentina
    Apr 21, 2019
    About Roberto Carlos
    Palmeiras: FK= 6
    Internazionale: FK= 3
    Real Madrid: FK= 25 IFK= 5
    Fenerbahce: FK= 2
    Corinthians: FK= 1 OG= 1.
    Anzhi: FK= 1
    Brazil U-23: FK= 1
    Brazil NT: FK= 4
    Carrer Total: FK= 43 IFK= 5 OG= 1
    Symbology:
    FK= Free Kick
    IFK=Indirect Free Kick.
    OG= Olimpic Goal.
    Note:
    1.-
    The Olympic goal is against Portuguesa on 16 / JAN / 2011
    2.-With Anzhi Roberto Carlos allegedly scored a goal vs "Volga" on 11-SEP-2011 in a match that ended 2-1. This goal is actually a goal, unlike previous cases mentioned, the shot goes completely outside the goal and the deflection is what causes the goal as can be seen in the following video:
    Therefore this goal is not considered in the previous data.
    Additionally I share that ESPN and Transfermarkt give it as a goal, while Ceroacero if it is accounted for that is why I attach the video so they can leave doubts and draw their own conclusions
    https://espndeportes.espn.com/futbol/partido?juegoId=315033
    https://www.transfermarkt.es/spielbericht/index/spielbericht/1140581
    https://www.ceroacero.es/match.php?id=1720692
     
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  18. carlito86

    carlito86 Member+

    Jan 11, 2016
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    #293 carlito86, Apr 19, 2020
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2020

    One of his last great FKs before the post 2013 decline in set piece taking abilities took place

    This was against peter Cech mind you who was still regarded as the top GK in England (behind only casillas and buffon in Europe)

    Mourinho famously remarked prematch that R9 and not Cristiano was the quote on quote Real Ronaldo
    I think the media fed into this and caused some tension

    This of course addition to the friction that already existed between the Madrid camp and mourinho right before he left


    This has been remarked by certain posters regarding players like Zico scoring against questionable keepers and not to take anything away from him
    C.Ronaldo scored quality FKs against the top keepers of his era as canizares,de gea,cech,neur,courtois etc

    In fact the ones against them were some of his best in terms of execution and quality
     
  19. Tropeiro

    Tropeiro Member+

    Jun 1, 2018
  20. Tropeiro

    Tropeiro Member+

    Jun 1, 2018
    Just to say that I am not one of them, I don't approve of this 'method' to define who was the biggest FKs. First, because we don't really know if the goalkeepers considered to be good were really good (today there is more information), second, we don't know if they are good at set pieces in the same way of the open play shots, third... this isn't the best method imo, I would try expected goals and post-shot expected goal metrics, this could better define the quality of the free kick better, also some players had more opportunities to score FKs in these so called good GKs than others.
     
  21. carlito86

    carlito86 Member+

    Jan 11, 2016
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    23.jpg
    Freekick conversion 8.4%
    15 scored out 179 attempts in 3 consecutive prime seasons

    League+CL stats

    This doesn't even include his Manchester United data
    He scored 11 direct FKs in 07/08+08/09 club seasons combined(all comps)
    Not data on CL but there is league data
    0N7ii.jpg


    In terms of range/distance or conversion he was not inferior to Ronaldinho/messi in FKs

    That is pre 2012 Cristiano(aged 27 had already accumulated 40~ direct freekicks for club and country)


    Post 2013 CR was probably as worse as Roberto carlos in FK
    So there is a drop off that has to be taken into consideration
    @Tropeiro
     
  22. Tropeiro

    Tropeiro Member+

    Jun 1, 2018
    Probably according to what? Dude, you don't have stats to says things like that. Cristiano Ronaldo after 2013 or 2014 was below average in terms of FK, how do you know Roberto Carlos was below average in FK in his best seasons?

    And stop talking about Cristiano Ronaldo day or night, he is already overrated by the actual level of play, not all is goals or assists. There is a lot of things behind it. Stop with the troll comparing a below average free-kicker with other greats.
     
  23. carlito86

    carlito86 Member+

    Jan 11, 2016
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    #298 carlito86, Apr 29, 2020
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2020
    You are a butthurt Brazilian fanboy

    There is alot of things behind it
    https://www.goal.com/en/news/1675/g...does-the-world-love-or-hate-cristiano-ronaldo

    Added to this the colonial history and the fact that CR wipes the floor with every single Brazilian football legend except Pele

    I truly sympathize with you
    It must be hard watching this Portuguese peasant leave 99.999999% of Brazilian historical legends in his wake


    You can never deny the racial slurs tropiero
    They are documented
     
  24. Tropeiro

    Tropeiro Member+

    Jun 1, 2018
    2009 to 2017 league competition, doesn't include Neymar's seasons at PSG (where he had very positive impacts): https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-sports-analytics/jsa200432

    Now, you're going to off-topic here and is being very offensive, maybe some admin can stop you for that.

    About the question this is all Cristiano Ronaldo FK attempts and goals after 13/14

    [​IMG]

    In what world Roberto Carlos as this bad?

    Cristiano is being below average/actually bad/really bad in terms of FK after 2014.
    In his peak probably still below Messi, Neymar let alone someone like Ronaldinho (better free-kicker than peak Messi).
     
  25. Ozora

    Ozora Member+

    Barcelona
    Spain
    Aug 5, 2014
    Club:
    Chelsea LFC
    0% rate at Juventus,2 years. Can someone reach this level? Can someone hit one man wall even there are tons of space in front?
    [​IMG]
    How is that even possible? Almost 6 years and i can not figure it out.
    Worst ever
     
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