Ronaldo, Messi, Juninho, Beckham: Who has scored the most club free-kicks in the 21st century?
Lionel Messi is an absolute wizard from free-kicks.
The Argentine is a massive threat whenever he is given an opportunity to shoot at goal from a dead ball situation.
During his time at Barcelona, he scored a ridiculous 50 goals from free-kicks.
He’s yet to get off the mark from a set-piece for Paris Saint-Germain but it seems only a matter of time until he bangs one in.
Messi’s prowess from free-kicks is well known, but how does he rank among the best free-kick takers of the 21st century?
PopFoot have calculated the 20 players with the most free-kicks scored in club football since 2000.
And Messi is far away from top spot. View below the best free-kicks takers of the past 22 years below…
20. Dimitri Payet – 14 goals
19. Robert Skov – 15 goals
18. Nene – 15 goals
17. Christian Eriksen – 16 goals
16. Daniel Wass – 16 goals
15. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – 18 goals
14. Aleksandar Kolarov – 19 goals
13. Miralem Pjanic – 21 goals
12. Juan Roman Riquelme – 22 goals
11. Hakan Calhanoglu – 25 goals
10. Wesley Sneijder – 26 goals
9. Roberto Carlos – 27 goals
8. Andrea Pirlo – 30 goals
6. David Beckham – 43 goals
7. Alessandro Del Piero – 37 goals
5. Cristiano Ronaldo – 47 goals
4. Lionel Messi – 50 goals
3. Ronaldinho – 55 goals
2. Rogerio Ceni – 59 goals
1. Juninho – 74 goals
Three players have been more prolific from free-kicks than Messi this century.
Ronaldinho, Messi’s former teammate at Barcelona, has scored five more goals from free-kicks than him.
Ceni, a goalkeeper, comes second on the list. The Brazilian notched an incredible 59 goals from free-kicks in the 21st century with Sao Paulo.
While Juninho Pernambucano is miles out in front having scored a crazy 74 club free-kicks since 2000. He may well be the greatest set-piece