Juninho Pernambucano (Greatest Free Kick taker ever?)

[André Dominguez]

My favorite FK takers were Mihajlovic and Dejan Petkovic: in fact any set piece they would take was great (corners, side FKs, etc)

 

[mu4c_20le]

Juninho had more variety and range in his free kicks than Beckham. They're probably similar in terms of accuracy but Juninho could shoot from areas where Beckham would have to cross or pass it.

He also never played in a top league, no disprespect to the resident francois. Becks scored more clutch goals particularly on the international stage; I cannot remember a single of Juninho's without looking it up on youtube.

 

[diarm]

Plenty of non-freekick goals in here:

 

[horsechoker]

Great player and great free kick taker - David Beckham

Good player and greatest free kick taker - Juninho

Decent player and very good free kick taker - Ward Prowse, Trippier

Great player and decent free kick taker - de Bruyne

Greatest player and good free kick taker - Messi

Greatest player and scorer of some great free kicks - Traitor

Good player and scorer of some good free kicks - Rashford

 

[MUFC OK]

Juninho had more variety and range in his free kicks than Beckham. They're probably similar in terms of accuracy but Juninho could shoot from areas where Beckham would have to cross or pass it.

True, Juninho was able to mix it up stylistically more than Beckham and think his range was better.

 

[T00lsh3d]

Plenty of non-freekick goals in here:

Back in the days of Setanta Sports

 

[MagooDad]

Yes, he must be the greatest because of his repertoire of possible free-kicks, he could:

1. Close range chip it like Messi.
2. Bend it from middle distance like Beckham.
3. Power bend them from long distance like Mihajlovic
4. Magnus-effect it like Roberto Carlos, though not from the same distance.
5. Smash it from long range like Ibra.
6. Smart-ass it like Ronaldihno.
7. Dip it like Meazza.
8. Knuckle-ball he was probably the first to do and he did it with the most guaranteed result.

Outside of that he was actually a pretty capable midfielder and good enough to make the Brazil squad in between Ronaldihno, Emerson and Kaká.

And he's also has some pretty decent political and moral views, he has said something in the line of

My brother is a doctor, my sister is a teacher, I am the only one who has achieved nothing of importance.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

I prefer Beckham because he is a United legend and his style when taking a free kick was unique

 

[Demyanenko_square_jaw]

He also never played in a top league, no disprespect to the resident francois. Becks scored more clutch goals particularly on the international stage; I cannot remember a single of Juninho's without looking it up on youtube.

The English league wouldn't have been considered a top league for a lot of Beckham's time by the standards of how most fans look at things over the last generation or so.

Look at the european performance coefficients of his time there, it's only during the early 00s that the league starts to reestablish itself near the top:

95 = 5
96 = 7
97 = 7
98 = 6
99 = 6
00 = 5
01 = 3
02 = 3
03 = 3

French league during Juninho's time.

01 = 5
02 = 5
03 = 5
04 = 5
05 = 4
06 = 4
07 = 4
08 = 4
09 = 5

I know coefficients aren't everything to a league strength, but they give an accurate enough picture of the overall quality of teams competing in european competition when comparing leagues with 5/6 average entrants every year, though it's often actually of benefit to smaller leagues to only have one consistent good team that builds a good seeding, rather than more variety. Anyway, its good enough that we can say Beckham and Juninho both broadly played in second-tier leagues.