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Who are Europe's best free-kick takers?
Please note: Data is correct as of February 13, 2018. Sorry, Lionel.
A free-kick in a certain region of the pitch always sends a frisson of excitement through the crowd, but who do you want standing behind the ball? STATS have crunched the numbers on every free-kick taken in Europe’s top leagues since the start of the 2013/14 season to bring you the answer... which may surprise you.
Players have to be currently active to qualify, and must have had at least 20 attempts on goal from a free-kick. Without further ado, here are the top 20.
20. Max Gradel (Toulouse)
Goals: 3
Attempts: 23
Success rate: 13%
The former Leeds and Leicester winger is currently strutting his stuff at Ligue 1 outfit Toulouse, whom he joined on loan from Bournemouth in summer 2017. Gradel may have struggled to nail down a regular starting spot at multiple clubs in the last few years, but his 13% success rate shows he still knows how to take a free-kick.
18= Neymar
Goals: 6
Attempts: 45
Success rate: 13.3%
Part of the reason Neymar swapped Barcelona for PSG in 2017 was a desire to be his team’s main man. Taking free-kicks and penalties for the Ligue 1 leaders has at times proved controversial, with Edinson Cavani often the fall guy, but the Brazilian can at least point towards a healthy 13.3% success rate from dead balls since 2014/15.
18= Wayne Rooney (Everton)
Goals: 4
Attempts: 30
Success rate: 13.3%
England’s all-time leading goalscorer has enjoyed something of a renaissance in an Everton side taken from 17th to 9th under Big Sam – what could have been for England, eh? One of Rooney’s best free-kicks came against Stoke in 2017, a goal which memorably took him past Bobby Charlton’s Manchester United record.
16= Wissam Ben Yedder (Sevilla)
Goals: 3
Attempts: 22
Success rate: 13.6%
Ben Yedder doesn’t always take free-kicks for Sevilla, but he’s got a respectable record when he does step up: of his 22 attempts since the start of 2013/14, the Frenchman has found the net three times. Plenty of clubs are reportedly weighing up a summer move for Ben Yedder, with his set-piece expertise one of the many positive attributes he possesses.
16= David Alaba (Bayern Munich)
Goals: 6
Attempts: 44
Success rate: 13.6%
Alaba’s skill-set is so broad that he could play in virtually any position on the pitch. The Austrian is usually deployed at full-back, but that doesn’t stop him trotting upfield to take free-kicks from time to time. He’s capable of both the swerving, Cristiano Ronaldo-style drive – which moves in the air like a plastic beach ball – and also more placed efforts.
15. Zlatko Junuzovic (Werder Bremen)
Goals: 5
Attempts: 36
Success rate: 13.9%
Austrian Junuzovic has netted some notable efforts from dead-ball situations for Werder Bremen. He often uses an interesting clipped technique, a bit like a golfer trying to escape a sand trap. It seems to be working too, with five goals from 36 efforts giving him a healthy success rate of 13.9%.
14. Miralem Pjanic (Juventus)
Goals: 11
Attempts: 78
Success rate: 14.1%
Real Madrid are reportedly interested in signing the Bosnian to replace Toni Kroos. They’d probably score a lot more free-kicks if they make it happen – if Pjanic can wrestle the ball off Cristiano Ronaldo, that is. The midfielder made a name for himself with his set-pieces for Roma, and has continued that trend with Juventus.
12= Romelu Lukaku (Man United)
Goals: 3
Attempts: 21
Success rate: 14.3%
Add Lukaku to the growing list of potential Manchester United set-piece takers. The Belgian only just makes it past the 20-effort benchmark to qualify for this list, but his three goals from 21 attempts sees him take joint-12th spot. Most of those came from his time at Everton, where Lukaku was the main man and therefore in a stronger position when it came to deciding who would take each free-kick.
12= Yaya Toure (Man City)
Goals: 4
Attempts: 28
Success rate: 14.3%
Toure doesn’t get many outings for Manchester City these days, but he’s played over 125 Premier League games since the start of the 2013/14 campaign. The midfielder isn’t as mobile as he once was, but he can still be relied upon to bend a delicate effort into the top corner in the last few minutes of a tight game.
11. Markus Suttner (Brighton)
Goals: 4
Attempts: 27
Success rate: 14.8%
Brighton have a secret weapon in defender Suttner (left), the third Austrian to make our top 20 for free-kick conversion. He’s yet to score for the Seagulls, who he joined in the summer, but did net a number of efforts for Ingolstadt. Four goals in 27 attempts isn’t to be sniffed at, particularly for a left-back whose primary job is to halt opposition attacks.
8= Henri Saivet (Newcastle/Sivasspor)
Goals: 3
Attempts: 20
Success rate: 15%
The 27-year-old midfielder has had a tough time of it since joining Newcastle in 2016, but he’ll always have one highlight to look back on. In December 2017, he converted an excellent, low free-kick in a 3-2 victory over West Ham, which helped move him up to joint-eighth in this list. It wasn’t enough to get him into Rafa Benitez’s good books, though: Saivet was shipped out on loan to Sivasspor in January.
8= Sejad Salihovic (Hamburg)
Goals: 3
Attempts: 20
Success rate: 15%
Bosnian veteran Salihovic has only just returned to the Bundesliga after spells in China and Switzerland, otherwise he would have undoubtedly netted more free-kicks in Europe’s top five leagues. His technique is Beckham-esque, as he approaches the ball from an almost 90-degree angle to apply as much spin as possible.
8= Mauricio Lemos (Sassuolo)
Goals: 3
Attempts: 20
Success rate: 15%
Nobody in La Liga scored more free-kicks last season than the young Uruguayan centre-back, pictured above trying to stop Cristiano Ronaldo. He scored three times in total, including a particularly fine effort in a 3-1 defeat by Eibar. Lemos reportedly turned down Barcelona back in 2016, as he doubted that he would get a lot of playing time - but has now left Las Palmas to join Sassuolo in Serie A.
7. Marvin Plattenhardt (Hertha Berlin)
Goals: 6
Attempts: 38
Success rate: 15.8%
The German full-back has scored six goals in the Bundesliga since 2013/14, all of them free-kicks. His efforts for Hertha and Nürnberg show an astonishing variety of technique from a powerful left foot; there’s curl, guile and raw power. Either goalkeepers in the Bundesliga just aren’t that good, or Plattenhardt just makes them look that way.
6. Federico Viviani (Verona/SPAL)
Goals: 5
Attempts: 31
Success rate: 16.1%
The deep-lying playmaker is the son of former Lazio player Mauro Viviani, but came through the youth system at Roma. The 25-year-old, who has been compared to Andrea Pirlo, is currently on loan from Verona at Serie A newcomers SPAL, where he’s been demonstrating that he shares his compatriot’s skill with a dead ball.
4= Marcos Alonso (Chelsea)
Goals: 4
Attempts: 24
Success rate: 16.7%
The Chelsea wing-back has been a strong performer in Antonio Conte’s side, and his free-kicks have won the Blues six points this season alone (and he notched another in the FA Cup against Newcastle too). He netted a fine effort against Spurs at Wembley back in August, as well as the winner against Southampton in December.
4= James Rodriguez (Real Madrid/Bayern Munich)
Goals: 6
Attempts: 36
Success rate: 16.7%
The golden boy of the 2014 World Cup has an impressive hit rate with his gifted left foot, but he endured a tough time with Real Madrid and, with Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo sniffing around, wasn’t able to take as many free-kicks as he would have liked. The Colombian is now enjoying a new lease of life with Bayern Munich, with a fabulous dinked effort against Bayer Leverkusen a reminder of his quality from set-pieces.
3. Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona)
Goals: 5
Attempts: 26
Success rate: 19.2%
If his shooting success rate from open play was half as good as his aim from free-kicks, Coutinho would score 800 goals a season. The Brazilian loves having a go from distance, and netted a memorable array of free-kicks for Liverpool before his drawn-out move to Barcelona. Lionel Messi is still the Catalans’ primary set-piece taker, but Coutinho will be keen to try his luck with any free-kicks which favour a right-footer.
2. Paulo Dybala (Juventus)
Goals: 8
Attempts: 38
Success rate: 21.1%
The 24-year-old Juventus forward has been linked with a move to Manchester United; with an incredible success rate slightly better than one in five, he would surely jump right to the top of the Red Devils’ free-kick queue. His left-footed technique is more about power than placement, which makes it difficult for goalkeepers to keep out his efforts.
1. Juan Mata (Man United)
Goals: 5
Attempts: 22
Success rate: 22.7%
Mata might not spring to mind when you think of deadly free-kick takers, but the Spanish schemer has the best conversion rate in Europe over the last five years. He generally prefers deft efforts near the edge of the box, like the beauty he scored against Leicester in December in 2017. Let’s hope the former Chelsea man reads FFT; if he does, we’d expect him to be showing off this article to his team-mates at United’s training ground.
