Messi and Cristiano each scored 11 direct freekicks for their national teams. Looks like Platini only has 7 direct freekicks plus 4 more indirect. Pirlo has 8 direct freekicks for the Italy senior team.
OK. In respectively 187 and 212 games though. This said, the decision made here to make a distinction between direct and indirect FKs is rather pointless. A freekick is a freekick. Take the one Platini scored vs Czechoslovakia in 1976: an indirect deaf leaf FK scored from inside the box. That's the most difficult of all. Naturally, I'm counting it. At 2 mn 50:
Fair enough point about direct vs indirect not always telling the whole story. Usually a live ball is not struck with the same technique as a dead ball but Platini does in the video here. Also for point about Messi and Ronaldo playing so many games comparatively.
According to the list on the previous page, it was Dinamite, but he didn't do that many at international level (national team, libertadores, ucl).
I've found another direct FK he scored in his last game with Nancy in 1979: So far I have 54 FKs -with a small margin of error- in 655 games, but lots of goals remain unchecked. His overall figure must be somewhere around 60.
Age at First Free-Kick (Game N°) Maradona: 16y 4m (14) Estêvão: 17y 7m (49) Cristiano: 18y 8m (43) Neymar: 19y 9m (166) Puskás: 20y 5m (128) Pelé: 21y (210) Messi: 21y 3m (150) Zico: 21y 5m (84) Goal N° Maradona: 3 Cristiano: 6 Estêvão: 15 Zico: 27 Messi: 58 Neymar: 86 Puskás: 108 Pelé: 264