Tifo IRL: Who is actually the best free-kick taker of all time?

[horsechoker]

https://www.goal.com/en-ae/news/mes...ick-technique-as-he/8dq3tms5hnqd106ozguezh6va

Some interesting quotes from Messi on free-kicks

"Before, I got comfortable and took them for the sake of it. I tried, of course, to get it over the wall and put it into the net, but I did it without thinking," Messi told La Liga on DAZN .

"That was until I practiced them, picking up habits with my positioning, my steps, how I hit the ball, and trying to use my foot in different ways and seeing how it worked out."


"Before I didn’t [study the goalkeeper]. I was hindered when it came to have to shoot or a one-on-one situation.

"There were situations in which things you’ve seen come to mind, and it makes you have doubts. Doubts make you go wrong.

"Recently I’ve looked at it again, above all looking at free-kicks to see if there is movement before, if I should take a step or not, how to react, how the wall blocks. Now I study it a little more."

"I watch free-kick takers," the 32-year-old said. "But I think that each player has their own way of taking them and it’s very difficult to copy someone else.

"I think that each player has to do it their way, and try what they feel is best. It’s very difficult to look and copy. You have to train to see what is best for each player."

and

"Goalkeepers are much faster than before, much better prepared, have much more strength in their legs, and that means that it is more difficult to take penalties."

Although he's speaking about penalties in that last quote it may ring true for free-kicks as well.

 

[JPRouve]

Juninho is such a hipster choice. He lives off of those 2 famous knuckleball free kicks.

You cant beat Beckham for his sheer quality. Even his non direct free kicks were always on the money. So many dangerous corners too.

Messi is the best in terms of modern day. The amount of free kicks he scored at Barca was insane.

Sarcasm?

 

[Adam-Utd]

Sarcasm?

Not really, they were what made him famous. He's certainly up there but he's not the best for me.

 

[::sonny::]

Juninho

 

[::sonny::]

Also Mihajlovic

 

[JPRouve]

Not really, they were what made him famous. He's certainly up there but he's not the best for me.

Juninho has the most goals, he was also excellent as a passer/crosser and used pretty much all techniques. You are quite obviously talking from a position of ignorance.

 

[El Jefe]

That guy was so boring I could only watch about 10 seconds of it.

So the best/most dangerous I've seen without looking at stats.

Juninho
Ceni
Del Piero
Beckham
Recoba
Mihjailovic
Messi
Ronaldinho
JWP
Pirlo
Ronaldo
Roberto Carlos
Riquelme

Thought it was just me and its not the first time its happened to me with their videos. For enthusiasts of the beautiful game they manage to make it come across as painfully boring.

 

[Cassidy]

Juninho is such a hipster choice. He lives off of those 2 famous knuckleball free kicks.

You cant beat Beckham for his sheer quality. Even his non direct free kicks were always on the money. So many dangerous corners too.

Messi is the best in terms of modern day. The amount of free kicks he scored at Barca was insane.

 

[Vidyoyo]

All that nonsense you usually don't post

Harsh. The man scored 77 freekicks, about 20 more than Beckham and Messi (I think)

 

[horsechoker]

Harsh. The man scored 77 freekicks, about 20 more than Beckham and Messi (I think)

Didn't score any against Liverpool

 

[Vidyoyo]

Didn't score any against Liverpool

Didn't score any blindfolded either now I think about it

 

[horsechoker]

Didn't score any blindfolded either now I think about it

Never even scored one at gunpoint.

 

[Bole Top]

van Hooijdonk of course.

 

[TsuWave]

Yeah, it's Juninho, but not mentioning Beckham is crazy to me

 

[shamans]

The obvious ones have been mentioned here. For me it was Beckham for high pressure situations and also indirect free kicks that often gets ignored in these discussions.

Anyway, I want to honorary mention Owen Hargreaves. He never had the career to showcase his full talents in true high pressure situations but with Hargreaves I always felt so confident he would at least test the keeper.

 

[SirReginald]

(Clearly isn’t) but nominating Alex. Purely for the joyful thunderbolts he would score. No one hits them he he did anymore. The one against Liverpool in the CL will forever live with me

 

[Mrs Smoker]

Well, tifo to you too.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Juninho has the most goals, he was also excellent as a passer/crosser and used pretty much all techniques. You are quite obviously talking from a position of ignorance.

Harsh. The man scored 77 freekicks, about 20 more than Beckham and Messi (I think)

I'd have probably scored the same amount with the quality of goalkeeping on show there

I could have sworn for a second I heard "well done he's only 13"

 

[Fortitude]

I think the best ever would be Juninho.

But I remember the likes of Beckham, Ronaldinho, Koeman, Pele, Maradona, Zico are also up there among the best ever.

Here’s the freekick top 10 ranking in terms of goals numbers I’ve found on internet:

1. Juninho - 77 goals
2. Pele - 70 goals
3. Legrottaglie - 66 goals
4. Ronaldinho - 66 goals
5. Beckham - 65 goals
6. Maradona - 62 goals
7. Zico - 62 goals
8. Koeman - 60 goals
9. Cena - 59 goals
10. Carioca - 59 goals

Ronaldo - 58 goals
Messi - 58 goals

So yeh, believe or not, Ronaldo and Messi could still get into top 10 greatest freekick taker.

Would be interesting to see a conversion rate. Obviously not possible, but would be insightful.

 

[Pink Moon]

Unsurprised it’s Juninho

Nakamura was good as well. Remember him scoring some belters for Celtic. One of them was against us as well in the CL.

Actually two. He scored a free kick in the game at Old Trafford too.

 

[V.O.]

Harsh. The man scored 77 freekicks, about 20 more than Beckham and Messi (I think)

The number of them that are taken from down the road as well.

"Here, just let me make the keeper look like a prat from 40 yards"

 

[ScholesyTheWise]

All of these "best ever ____" are weird since most of the people who reply to whichever question is being asked probably only ever watched players from the 80's/90's onwards on a regular basis.

How someone can seriously compare Becks or Juninho to players from some 50 years ago is beyond me.

Considering the question will be better phrased as "who's the best fk taker of the last generation to two?", while I tend to agree with the notion that Juninho has something about him that others lack,

I feel like the discussion puts no focus at all on fk takers whose stronger suit was crossing dead balls and thereby contributing no less to their teams' goal tallies.

I'd wager a guess that more goals come from fk's being crossed into the box / some space close to it than the ones that are being shot at goal. Hence I'm not sure Juninho is the obvious answer, but I also haven't the sufficient knowledge to mention footballers who were top-notch at crossing dead balls other than saying Becks, Pirlo and some more obvious ones. There might have been others. I don't know how Juninho's crosses were seeing as his insane shots from a free kick are what stuck into my memory.

 

[Vidyoyo]

I'd have probably scored the same amount with the quality of goalkeeping on show there

I could have sworn for a second I heard "well done he's only 13"

Yeah to be fair some of them are truly awful

 

[Gehrman]

Would be interesting to see a conversion rate. Obviously not possible, but would be insightful.

Agree conversion rate matters but Juninho is still the best. Becks high on the list though.

 

[JPRouve]

Yeah to be fair some of them are truly awful

They are not as awful as it looks with some angles, mainly because on his power shots the ball would often move late. Then you have the particularly silly shots to the far post where he targets the side nets, those are unstoppable unless you anticipate a shot on the far post which is a bad idea when Juninho was perfectly able to target the near post.

That's why he is seen as the best ever, no other player could target any area of the goal with all the required techniques and with power. Goalkeepers had to gamble and hope that the shot is missed.

 

[Vidyoyo]

They are not as awful as it looks with some angles, mainly because on his power shots the ball would often move late. Then you have the particularly silly shots to the far post where he targets the side nets, those are unstoppable unless you anticipate a shot on the far post which is a bad idea when Juninho was perfectly able to target the near post.

That's why he is seen as the best ever, no other player could target any area of the goal with all the required techniques and with power. Goalkeepers had to gamble and hope that the shot is missed.

True. Looks can be deceptive but I just double-checked and a lot of those goals happened in a farmer's league, so I'm not sure now how much credit Juninho deserves

 

[didz]

Yeah, it's Juninho, but not mentioning Beckham is crazy to me

It's no surprise whatsoever that Beckham doesn't get a mention. I listen to these guys every now and then and it's clear that they detest everything about Man United.

For direct free kicks it's Juninho surely, but I wasn't exactly watching Lyon games in full at the time, so I couldn't really speak to his delivery. Beckham's was exceptional.

 

[Kablamo]

It's Ceni.

Not giving Tifo or The Athletic a single click.

 

[R'hllor]

I would have thought so too. Where to Recoba and Mihajlovic place? Even Mihajlovic's corners were incredibly dangerous.

Mihajlovic corners were pure bullets

 

[MileStolar]

If I remember correctly Mihajlović is still to this day the only one to score a free kick - hat trick .

 

[Fortitude]

Agree conversion rate matters but Juninho is still the best. Becks high on the list though.

Don't know if I'd say so with such certainty, but at the same time, factually he has the most goals and a ridiculous array of techniques.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Juninho is miles above everyone.
JWP is best currently I can think of with honourable mention to Payet.

Ronaldo could score from everywhere but I feel if you looked at the stats he’d be much less efficient.

 

[Dan]

Harsh. The man scored 77 freekicks, about 20 more than Beckham and Messi (I think)

56

 

[arthurka]

Not mentioning Becks makes this absolutely worthless. He made his career in kicking a ball from set pieces.

 

[Okey]

Juninho, obviously. Easy answer. Never heard of Marcelinho Carioca before. Wikipedia actually says he scored 80! And the compilation posted here says he deserves a shout. You can't make a greatest list without Becks though. Sacrilege.

 

[tentan]

Juninho pernambucano

 

[Chief123]

Mihaijlovic was good too!

Yep Sinisa Mihailovic is the best I’ve ever seen. Most are too young to remember him but he was literally a player who was mainly playing because of his threat from free kicks.

He’s still the only player I’ve seen to score a hat trick of free kicks in one game!

 

[Chief123]

Interesting watch

Spoiler: Summary

It's Juninho

Messi lacks variety

No mention of Beckham

JWP is the best FKT ATM

The list is a bit flawed as it’s basically players who played the longest.

Ronaldo is number 5 on the list and he’s nowhere near the best free kick takers I’ve seen. He sends them to row Z more often than getting them on target buts he’s obviously 5th highest scorer because he’s been playing for 85 years.

 

[moses]

Juninho is such a hipster choice. He lives off of those 2 famous knuckleball free kicks.

You cant beat Beckham for his sheer quality. Even his non direct free kicks were always on the money. So many dangerous corners too.

Messi is the best in terms of modern day. The amount of free kicks he scored at Barca was insane.

Nonsense, he was insanely good.

 

[ExoduS]

Sinisa Mihajlovic - I am biased as feck.
My favorite free kick taker is Messi. Love the technique, and he is equally reliably from short and medium range.