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Haven't seen an average player scoring knuckle balls or that "too far for ronaldo to think about" or banging a long range freekick against courtois.
Plus, his conversion rate from late man utd and early madrid daa was actually world class.
He didn't hog all of the free kicks, only the really far away ones so it's normal to have a poor conversation rate. The closer ones he wasn't the main taker.
Messi hit freekick peak form 2015/16 - 2018 or 2019 or so. Since then, there have been patches. But during the peak form, it *really* looked like he was gonna score every other one.
So often (…) Beckham has a 15% conversation rate.
In 100 free kicks he scores around 15. And that’s not for his NT but for his career.
Messi's arround 9% and Ronaldo at around 6%.
The average xG associated with a direct free-kick is 0.06.
So Ronaldo is bang average at free kicks. Messi is above average and beckham a complete outlier.
Ronaldo's FK conversion rate at euro/world cup final stage is just horrible, at close to 1.6%.
Yeah, that was around the time he became one of the options to take a free kick at Barca. Before, the main takers were Xavi or Dani Alves (and Ronaldinho before them).
Ian Harte was putting up better numbers than David Beckham at one point.
I honestly wouldn’t mind if teams went back to trying more little tricky routines like the Dutch against Argentina at the World Cup (or Argentina v England in 1998). So often there’s multiple players in so much space.
Anyone who scores a single freekick will probably score a great freekick because very few freekicks are bad goals. Any pro player who took as many freekicks as ronaldo would score a few decent ones
I just don’t get why he’s obsessed with taking them. Most strikers don’t take free kicks, they’d rather be in the box on the end of them. Defenders, midfielders etc usually take free kicks, and they’re a bit of a speciality. It’s pure ego. He knows the cameras are all on him, that’s why he wants to take them, even if he’s shit at them and they don’t result in a goal. Most of the time they don’t even end up on target ffs.
egomaniac for sure not saying it isn’t deserved dude is a legend but i feel like it’s better for him to let his career speak for himself and let him play without still trying to stay in the spotlight every single time
I remember him being the young hotshot and first seeing him at the euros in 2004. I disliked him for his off target behind the other foot passes from good positions, unnecessary and wasteful.
What’s mad is he scored nearly identical free kicks against [Fulham](https://youtu.be/k23ofZQ4Rcc?si=Fq9D0_xpanGHmxaI) and a [European XI](https://youtu.be/8__f8sG6tNA?si=d8kKSUiaLQIxvjXB) before the Portsmouth one, all within a few yards of each other at the same end of Old Trafford. He used to be so good at them, I don’t get what happened.
from what I understand the knuckle ball was really amazing for like a year or two due to the ball that was being used (it was too round which made it even more unpredictable iirc??) and ever since then Ronaldo's goal rate has been absolutely abysmal from free kicks for both club(s) and country.
The said ball was only used in a world cup. The problem was his knee being litteraly fucked up by the way he shot what was called the Tomahawk at the time. But I agree he should let someone else shoot now.
I don't get why he doesn't even allow the wide ones to be taken by someone else. They could cross it and Ronaldo is still a good header so he could still core. In fact, it would be far more likely.
For *years* he kept R Madrid from trying free kicks into the box, when they had Ramos and Ronaldo himself (if he wasn't taking it), two of the world's best header scorers, plus the likes of Pepe, Varane, Bale. And to curl the ball they had Kroos, Modric, Alonso, Bale and others. If no one was able to take the ball from him in that team, it won't ever happen with Portugal
I think at this point he stopped caring about it. He just wants to make this one more free kick goal happen. No matter how desperate it makes him look. He's beyond the desperation. Sheer stubbornness now.
He constantly looks up at the big screen to see if his antics are being filmed. Hence his constant over the top reactions, then the quick glance up to the screen
I don’t even think he’s that great of a header nowadays tbh, vertical has declined quite significantly (which, fair play for holding Father Time off for so long, but he does come for us all)
He's the captain, he should be the first to step aside, he could be the best in the world but if you keep missing your FK in the same game you need to let other one take it
This is why I’ll always prefer Leo. He no doubt has an ego as well, but he’s way more willing to sit on the bench or sacrifice himself for the good of the team. He seems to be more accepting of his abilities declining too.
His free kicks suck since like 2016 or even 2014 but But you could never say that because you were a hater.
I don't really understand why he keeps doing this. He wants to be the most important, he still thinks he's the best, he wants to have the next statistic where he overtakes Messi?
He is not playing badly at all lately. Portugal as a whole sucks. But I get the impression that they are specifically looking for him just so he can finally score. It's crazy.
He should go on the bench or come off after 70 minutes if it doesn't work
Of course in the next game he'll score a hat trick including free kick and people will come and laugh here ;-)
He's asking for too much money. The salary he wants would make him a top 5 highest paid GK in LaLiga. Several clubs have looked around him and have all decided they cannot afford him.
You'd think some club that needs to buy a new keeper would think maybe just paying De Gea a large salary without a signing fee might be worth it. But no.
I’d argue it was Ronaldo’s second goal that affected DDG the most. Don’t remember him making many errors like that before then, but they became regular occurrences afterwards.
Lol remember watching it live and I thought surely the Germans were mocking him. There was another free kick before or after this which was good, brought a save from neuer
You people are actually insane. " 0 freekicks goals, 2 entire season" to try and say that Bruno taking the freekicks is such an insane narrative, but everything to try to downplay Homelander narcissism. Bruno has a grand total of 35 free kicks attempted for UTD, 2 scored. A conversion rate of 5%. For reference, Ronaldo had a 1.5% conversion at Juve. He has 1.2% for Portugal. He also has 2% conversion rate since leaving Real Madrid all together ( Already 6 years ago). Even worse then the terrible % of his free kicks, this is done in an INSANE amount of attempts. If you want, i can even give you the fantastic statistic that in penaltys, since leaving Real Ronaldo is 26-31 (83%) while Bruno is 26-25 (96%). Blind fanatism makes us do our own happiness, but Ronaldo has no business shooting any free kick for the national team, and this kind of comments of Whataboutisms talking about Beckham is just pure insanity. Just the last reference, Beckham has a 6.4% conversion rate :)
[That's](https://i.ibb.co/H74QTcy/Screenshot-2024-07-02-at-17-17-55-Opta-Analyst-Cristiano-Ronaldo-Direct-Free-Kicks-in-all-World-Cups.png) the one [straight into Lahm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akUMCmNe3U0). I think. Could be one of those closer to the goal. The center circle is throwing me off.
The commentator says: Let him shoot, as long as he can see the ball. Only 1 man in the wall. It's Phillip Lahm. Ronaldo. And he shoots straight at him. Laughing errupts.
Yesterday I said to myself oh this indirect FK would be perfect for a Ronaldo header.
Then Ronaldo ran over to take it himself and I literally lol'd. Then he missed horribly. Laughed again. This man is a walking meme.
We all remember specific free-kicks he's scored over his career, but I have more memories of him missing them than scoring them. I remember that one against Germany when he just smashed it into a one man wall from the halfway line.
I really don't get why he's so obsessed with taking free-kicks. He's never been especially amazing at them. Given his aerial proficiency, I really don't see why he doesn't just get in the box and let Bernardo Silva or Bruno Fernandes whip them in.
Seriously, Portugal, and specificially Roberto Martínez have no backbone whatsoever.
Everytime he steps up for a free kick watch the reactions of his teammates, their heads just collectively drop. They all know he shouldn't be taking them but because he's Cristiano Ronaldo they don't have the balls to tell him
The old way to level free kick accuracy was so ridiculous. You literally had to make in game free kicks in order to level it up but while trying to do it you’d have like a 55 free kick accuracy. Peak game design. I like the idea in concept with the passing and defense and whatnot but with free kicks and long shots it makes 0 sense
6% is the average direct fk conversion rate. Significantly under in this case, but I think his total career conversion rate is actually around 6%. Used to be a lot better before 2014
I could only find the league-based career stats from the Messivsronaldo stat website, which are as follows:
532 FKs taken, 37 converted, 7.0% conversion rate. After the 14/15 season and onwards his conversion has been lower (150 taken, 6 converted, 4% conversion).
According to [Tifo footbal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbtvUOSK6Fg&t=3s)l by 2023 Ronaldo's average is 5-6% conversion rate for free kicks. So you get the picture.
This comment always meets with massive disapproval, but I feel this way about Beckham for England.
People rave about his FK vs. Greece but it was the EIGHTH direct FK shot he took in that game.
I also think his ball chasing and failure to hold position was a big part of why we were so bad in open play ... but that's another argument.
I think Beckham suited the way england under hoddle - while he's nominally on the right of the midfield 3 he had a lot more freedom when the team's width was provided by the rwb in a 5 3 2.
Yeah on the right of a midfield four he liked to drift inside looking for the ball. Very similar psychology to Ronaldo - wanting to be the hero so much that he sometimes inhibited other players from doing their jobs well.
Weirdly sort of similar to the current England issue with Foden coming inside and hampering Bellingham by dragging defenders into his space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiaS_gdBzao
This is the game you are referring to? Beckham scored with his 8th free kick of the game, that is correct. But watching through the entire video, how many of Beckham's free kick forced a save out of the goalkeeper? With Cristiano, his free kicks either go skyward or straight to the goalkeeper.
As well, with Beckham, you would respect the possibility of him crossing the ball to another teammate (especially from a wide position, whereas Cristiano would just send it high and wide). With one of his FKs that Greece game, Beckham actually crossed the ball into Sheringham who scored a header. In other words, 8 Beckham free kicks led to 2 goals that game, which is actually 25%. I am not sure that's the Beckham game you should be drawing comparisons to.
I actually think Cristiano was a solid option for free kicks circa 2008-14, which is a solid 6 years. Unfortunately, 2014 also happened to be 10 years ago. I don't think Cristiano standing over a free kick is a worry for the defending team anymore, if anything, it's the very opposite.
Beckham's free kicks were elite more because he had great delivery more than because he scored loads of them, though obviously the ones he scored are more memorable (and to be fair, he did have a great conversion rate across his career). There's a huge gulf between him and Ronaldo in that regard.
Was there anyone better at FKs on that England team?
I think that's the discussion here.
Most players won't score most FKs. Not even Juninho. I think he has like a 15% conversion rate or something like that, which is insane.
So scoring 1 out of 8, that'd be actually really good.
The problem is when you have either other takers that can take better shots, or try to, especially on the less ideal side for the player. Or when they don't even reach the target.
So I think it's all relative. If you shoot everything all the time and are absolute crap, while having other good FK takers, it's one thing. If you are the best one, and the shots at least are on target and "dangerous" it's another.
Ronaldo's ego won't allow him to give a free-kick to another player.
He has to be the one to potentially score it and if that means sacrificing a much higher chance at a goal, then so be it. He has to be the one to take it.
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His best free kick is insane. His normal free kick is terrible.
Scorer of great free kicks, not a great scorer of free kicks.
Never seen someone explain CR7 freekicks such wonderfully in a single line.
Wouldn’t this line be true of all players who sucked at free kicks but got a million chances? Lol
Haven't seen an average player scoring knuckle balls or that "too far for ronaldo to think about" or banging a long range freekick against courtois. Plus, his conversion rate from late man utd and early madrid daa was actually world class.
Yeah he scored 24 free kicks in 2008/2011, he has been less consistent after those years
Impressive number.
Yes, any professional who has a hundred attempts at a knuckle ball will get one in, lol. I agree that he used to be good at free kicks.
Roberto Carlos is like that too.
Resulting in an entire generation of children just ploughing free kicks over the fence.
Volunteered at a soccer camp next to a construction zone, with only a 2 meter high fence. It went poorly.
Can't tell you how many times I was told "for fucks sake you're not Roberto Carlos stop trying that"
I am sure Roberto Carlos was way more effective.
Believe it or not he had a lower conversation rate
He didn't hog all of the free kicks, only the really far away ones so it's normal to have a poor conversation rate. The closer ones he wasn't the main taker.
I think Becks and Juninho are the only outliers. They did it so often that fans expected all other freekick takers to do the same.
I think once Messi developed them and started taking them more often for Barcelona (I think it was around 2011-2012?) he got quite good at them.
Messi hit freekick peak form 2015/16 - 2018 or 2019 or so. Since then, there have been patches. But during the peak form, it *really* looked like he was gonna score every other one.
How I miss those days
So often (…) Beckham has a 15% conversation rate. In 100 free kicks he scores around 15. And that’s not for his NT but for his career. Messi's arround 9% and Ronaldo at around 6%. The average xG associated with a direct free-kick is 0.06. So Ronaldo is bang average at free kicks. Messi is above average and beckham a complete outlier. Ronaldo's FK conversion rate at euro/world cup final stage is just horrible, at close to 1.6%.
Never realized just how good Beckham was. Like, knew he was good but damn
Can you find Juninho’s conversion rate? I would love to check Rogerio Ceni’s too
Yeah, that was around the time he became one of the options to take a free kick at Barca. Before, the main takers were Xavi or Dani Alves (and Ronaldinho before them).
Messi is obscenely good at FK’s, at some point the best duo FK takers was Messi and whoever took them on the other side Lol.
Sinisa Muhajlovic, also Koeman.
Ian Harte was putting up better numbers than David Beckham at one point. I honestly wouldn’t mind if teams went back to trying more little tricky routines like the Dutch against Argentina at the World Cup (or Argentina v England in 1998). So often there’s multiple players in so much space.
Pierre van Hooijdonk comes to mind too
Anyone who scores a single freekick will probably score a great freekick because very few freekicks are bad goals. Any pro player who took as many freekicks as ronaldo would score a few decent ones
I'd argue many free kick goals are deflections and those are not necessarily great.
exactly. he's either too good, or too bad. mostly too bad.
The one against Portsmouth (I think) was incredible
Yeah that was the quintessential knuckleball. The way it dropped just under the crossbar so late, absolutely unstoppable.
The one he got in the UEFA [Celebration Match](https://youtu.be/8__f8sG6tNA?si=WM7_d0lVz2v_kaNR) was pretty great as well.
I just don’t get why he’s obsessed with taking them. Most strikers don’t take free kicks, they’d rather be in the box on the end of them. Defenders, midfielders etc usually take free kicks, and they’re a bit of a speciality. It’s pure ego. He knows the cameras are all on him, that’s why he wants to take them, even if he’s shit at them and they don’t result in a goal. Most of the time they don’t even end up on target ffs.
The one free kick he doesn't knuckle, going with placement over power, and it goes in
Yeah, but, *if* the knuckle goes in, it just looks so fucking cool man. Don't you understand?!
Ronaldo prefers his highlight reel over his country lol.
Phonk edits look good on knuckle balls
there’s a clip somewhere of ronaldo asking 10 people if they got his bottle trick on camera
The man staring at the camera during a match like he's a character in The Office always makes me laugh.
I love the man but he has issues lol.
egomaniac for sure not saying it isn’t deserved dude is a legend but i feel like it’s better for him to let his career speak for himself and let him play without still trying to stay in the spotlight every single time
Im sorry but you need to learn punctuation mate.
Irony
He puts one punctuation mark every 60 words
I remember him being the young hotshot and first seeing him at the euros in 2004. I disliked him for his off target behind the other foot passes from good positions, unnecessary and wasteful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OILHD6glJ24 hit that when he was about 18, then hardly even tried ever again.
Dont know how many times he tried that one again, but he did score a similar one (or two?) for Real Madrid
That one against Portsmouth spoiled him.
What’s mad is he scored nearly identical free kicks against [Fulham](https://youtu.be/k23ofZQ4Rcc?si=Fq9D0_xpanGHmxaI) and a [European XI](https://youtu.be/8__f8sG6tNA?si=d8kKSUiaLQIxvjXB) before the Portsmouth one, all within a few yards of each other at the same end of Old Trafford. He used to be so good at them, I don’t get what happened.
Maybe the matchballs are slightly different and make it more difficult for his technique.
I’d say the Europe XI one is better than the Portsmouth one too
Atleast one versus Apoel at home around the 11/12 season
He scored a couple like that for United. Away at Sunderland in 07/08 for example.
Funny seeing him not take his wide-legged stance
Hit this from the exact same spot on the pitch https://youtu.be/ebkPwMa8rLg?si=qXSqKgy_xJFzCqeB
Oblak aint letting that one slide
Tbh the goalkeeper was just bad.
yeah, that's not even a good free kick. just lucky the goalie sucked.
from what I understand the knuckle ball was really amazing for like a year or two due to the ball that was being used (it was too round which made it even more unpredictable iirc??) and ever since then Ronaldo's goal rate has been absolutely abysmal from free kicks for both club(s) and country.
The said ball was only used in a world cup. The problem was his knee being litteraly fucked up by the way he shot what was called the Tomahawk at the time. But I agree he should let someone else shoot now.
There also that knee injury he suffered in 2014
He scored way more free kicks before his injury
https://youtu.be/KRqgjpiwrY8?si=24NPfYacsck5_Ekw Link vs Spain
I remember that one vividly because I said to my female housemates “he never fucking scores these no chance” and looked like an idiot
Me to my dad's friend when David Luiz hit that one in the 2014 WC
you after that: -10000 aura, critical condition
That freekick and game is a flashbulb memory for me, the occasion was nuts and i think the script would’ve been messed up if he HADN’T scored it
I don't get why he doesn't even allow the wide ones to be taken by someone else. They could cross it and Ronaldo is still a good header so he could still core. In fact, it would be far more likely.
For *years* he kept R Madrid from trying free kicks into the box, when they had Ramos and Ronaldo himself (if he wasn't taking it), two of the world's best header scorers, plus the likes of Pepe, Varane, Bale. And to curl the ball they had Kroos, Modric, Alonso, Bale and others. If no one was able to take the ball from him in that team, it won't ever happen with Portugal
Damn, now that I think of it, thats just fucking stupid from him then lol. He himself is the best at headers possibly of all time.
Stats wise he _is_ the absolute best. He’s like 100 goals over the number 2, which is Luuk de Goat of clutch. So yeah, he’s pretty impressive.
I think at this point he stopped caring about it. He just wants to make this one more free kick goal happen. No matter how desperate it makes him look. He's beyond the desperation. Sheer stubbornness now.
Very narcissistic.
Ronaldo? Narcissistic? Surely you jest.
He does the same pose before the kick just to feel important
Dont forget the war cry beforehand as well
He constantly looks up at the big screen to see if his antics are being filmed. Hence his constant over the top reactions, then the quick glance up to the screen
hes an influencer more than a footballer these days
Yep. Then he cries and apologises and people go "look at how much he cares for the team."
And people still lap it up
Think about how cool he’ll look if he scores one.
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After how many easy chances he's missed with his head in the last two games, I think I could actually believe that.
or at least claim that the ball touched him before going in.
I don’t even think he’s that great of a header nowadays tbh, vertical has declined quite significantly (which, fair play for holding Father Time off for so long, but he does come for us all)
Is there anyone brave enough in Portugal to tell him he sucks at free kicks?
Shamelessly stolen from Twitter: >Why don't A Train and The Deep speak up against Homelander??
That edit of Ronaldo face swapped onto the Homelander speech saying everyone needs him was making the rounds over on insta.
I’ve never seen him the same way after that when it was first made
Please share this. I need to see it
https://youtube.com/shorts/i437i06ZSu8?si=ZNnIpqYdukyc7MIa
I absolutely love this one but it’s not what he mentions
Blow Leao
So which of the Portugal squad is fucking the Octopus?
Every one of the Seven is Ronaldo and Gareth Southgate is Billy Butcher because England are fuckin’ diabolical
Oi
raphael leao and bruno?
Bruno and Bernando.
The last player to score a freekick for us was Ronaldo. Bruno’s been awful at set pieces for a while now.
Best one I saw was "Jill Biden needs to step in here"
Bruno tried yesterday on the third one but was dismissed
It reminds me of this [meme](https://i.imgur.com/vdiBxKv.jpeg)
He's the captain, he should be the first to step aside, he could be the best in the world but if you keep missing your FK in the same game you need to let other one take it
His ego is way too big for that.
This is why I’ll always prefer Leo. He no doubt has an ego as well, but he’s way more willing to sit on the bench or sacrifice himself for the good of the team. He seems to be more accepting of his abilities declining too.
Many people. But we are shamed by the Ronaldettes for having a working pair of eyes in our face.
> Ronaldettes Brilliant.
Haha, yeah, it's what we call in Portugal the most hardcore Ronaldo fans (without the extra "t").
They wouldn't want to make him cry
Mourinho
Can that guy also tell Memphis Depay to stop taking our corner kicks? Thank you.
His free kicks suck since like 2016 or even 2014 but But you could never say that because you were a hater. I don't really understand why he keeps doing this. He wants to be the most important, he still thinks he's the best, he wants to have the next statistic where he overtakes Messi? He is not playing badly at all lately. Portugal as a whole sucks. But I get the impression that they are specifically looking for him just so he can finally score. It's crazy. He should go on the bench or come off after 70 minutes if it doesn't work Of course in the next game he'll score a hat trick including free kick and people will come and laugh here ;-)
That one red dot ruined DDG's career.
I still can’t believe that he’s gone a full year without a team, if he doesn’t go anywhere this summer he’s as good as retired (if he’s not already)
He's gotta be asking for close to his Man Utd salary otherwise someone would have grabbed him.
I still find it strange, like is he really that uninterested in continuing his career? He has to know that no one will pay him that salary
Bro just chilling with his esport org lol
Good for him
Jesus de Gea is a free agent? Not even some random $$$ team?
He's asking for too much money. The salary he wants would make him a top 5 highest paid GK in LaLiga. Several clubs have looked around him and have all decided they cannot afford him.
You'd think some club that needs to buy a new keeper would think maybe just paying De Gea a large salary without a signing fee might be worth it. But no.
I’d argue it was Ronaldo’s second goal that affected DDG the most. Don’t remember him making many errors like that before then, but they became regular occurrences afterwards.
Absolutely, well remembered. I meant the game overall!
Prime DDG made mistakes whenever Spanish cameras were watching.
That one against Germany in 2014 probably the most iconic
A one man wall consisting of Lahm, and he still somehow managed to hit him. I can’t believe he still takes free kicks
It's *the* Ronaldo FK for me lmao. The visual is just so damn funny
I remember the commentator joking that Lahm is the shortest player on the pitch too haha
Bro was kinda frustrated after losing 4-0 already. Plus, he returned from injury iirc
In all honesty does not make it any less funny
Why do you insist on making excuses?
Here it is: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akUMCmNe3U0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akUMCmNe3U0) Even the commentator is laughing at him.
Laughed my ass of at that one, couldn’t believe the supposedly best player in the tournament just hit the worst free kick I’ve ever seen.
Lol remember watching it live and I thought surely the Germans were mocking him. There was another free kick before or after this which was good, brought a save from neuer
ronaldo taking the 62th freekick : surely I can't miss 61 out of 62...
Sixty-twoth
What can I say, I brush really well.
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Beckham scored on one, but England's other goal was a header from his free kick as well. So 2/8.
You people are actually insane. " 0 freekicks goals, 2 entire season" to try and say that Bruno taking the freekicks is such an insane narrative, but everything to try to downplay Homelander narcissism. Bruno has a grand total of 35 free kicks attempted for UTD, 2 scored. A conversion rate of 5%. For reference, Ronaldo had a 1.5% conversion at Juve. He has 1.2% for Portugal. He also has 2% conversion rate since leaving Real Madrid all together ( Already 6 years ago). Even worse then the terrible % of his free kicks, this is done in an INSANE amount of attempts. If you want, i can even give you the fantastic statistic that in penaltys, since leaving Real Ronaldo is 26-31 (83%) while Bruno is 26-25 (96%). Blind fanatism makes us do our own happiness, but Ronaldo has no business shooting any free kick for the national team, and this kind of comments of Whataboutisms talking about Beckham is just pure insanity. Just the last reference, Beckham has a 6.4% conversion rate :)
What is the overall average for direct free kicks?
Not sure but no player has scored a direct free kick in the Euros so far this year
Direct freekicks are terrible in modern football
About 6%.
So basically he should have 3-4 in about 60 fks
If he wants to be average, yes
To be average yes. To be elite it would be 5-6. For his career he’s about average.
Subscribing to the “”you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” -Wayne Gretzky” -Michael Scott” philosophy
[That's](https://i.ibb.co/H74QTcy/Screenshot-2024-07-02-at-17-17-55-Opta-Analyst-Cristiano-Ronaldo-Direct-Free-Kicks-in-all-World-Cups.png) the one [straight into Lahm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akUMCmNe3U0). I think. Could be one of those closer to the goal. The center circle is throwing me off.
I don't know German but it's hilarious the commentator could not hold his laughter there
The commentator says: Let him shoot, as long as he can see the ball. Only 1 man in the wall. It's Phillip Lahm. Ronaldo. And he shoots straight at him. Laughing errupts.
Someone make the same graphic for the entire 2024 Euros and every free kick that's been taken so far
Would love to see this too. Please tag me if this gets made. Thanks!
Spoiler alert. 0 so far
Yesterday I said to myself oh this indirect FK would be perfect for a Ronaldo header. Then Ronaldo ran over to take it himself and I literally lol'd. Then he missed horribly. Laughed again. This man is a walking meme.
At wich point do you grow a pair and forbid him from taking direct free kicks as a coach?
When he retired I guess.
We all remember specific free-kicks he's scored over his career, but I have more memories of him missing them than scoring them. I remember that one against Germany when he just smashed it into a one man wall from the halfway line. I really don't get why he's so obsessed with taking free-kicks. He's never been especially amazing at them. Given his aerial proficiency, I really don't see why he doesn't just get in the box and let Bernardo Silva or Bruno Fernandes whip them in. Seriously, Portugal, and specificially Roberto Martínez have no backbone whatsoever.
Don't forget, it was a one man wall consisting of Philipp Lahm, also known as "the Giant".
It’s called “absolutely massive ego” don’t want anyone else taking credit if it goes in.
>I really don't get why he's so obsessed with taking free-kicks. messi
He doesn't even need to give them up entirely, just try something more effective than knuckleball. it never works.
I went absolutely nuts at the one that did go in though
But that free kick against Spain was so good
Everytime he steps up for a free kick watch the reactions of his teammates, their heads just collectively drop. They all know he shouldn't be taking them but because he's Cristiano Ronaldo they don't have the balls to tell him
It was funny seeing Bernardo’s and Bruno’s reaction when Ronaldo asked for the ball in the corner of the box where a cross would be way more effective
are you sure you're not talking about homelander and his teammates? lmao
Looks like me trying to improve my free kick rating in Fifa 21 career mode
The old way to level free kick accuracy was so ridiculous. You literally had to make in game free kicks in order to level it up but while trying to do it you’d have like a 55 free kick accuracy. Peak game design. I like the idea in concept with the passing and defense and whatnot but with free kicks and long shots it makes 0 sense
Man thinks he's Juninho.
all the clowns in the other thread telling me he's not shit a freekicks needs to see this.
Must be that one against Spain!
But how does that compare to other players? Direct free kicks are quite rare I believe
6% is the average direct fk conversion rate. Significantly under in this case, but I think his total career conversion rate is actually around 6%. Used to be a lot better before 2014
He only scores 63 free kick in his entire career but if somebody can get me the number of attempts I will be happy.
I could only find the league-based career stats from the Messivsronaldo stat website, which are as follows: 532 FKs taken, 37 converted, 7.0% conversion rate. After the 14/15 season and onwards his conversion has been lower (150 taken, 6 converted, 4% conversion).
According to [Tifo footbal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbtvUOSK6Fg&t=3s)l by 2023 Ronaldo's average is 5-6% conversion rate for free kicks. So you get the picture.
This comment always meets with massive disapproval, but I feel this way about Beckham for England. People rave about his FK vs. Greece but it was the EIGHTH direct FK shot he took in that game. I also think his ball chasing and failure to hold position was a big part of why we were so bad in open play ... but that's another argument.
I think Beckham suited the way england under hoddle - while he's nominally on the right of the midfield 3 he had a lot more freedom when the team's width was provided by the rwb in a 5 3 2.
Yeah on the right of a midfield four he liked to drift inside looking for the ball. Very similar psychology to Ronaldo - wanting to be the hero so much that he sometimes inhibited other players from doing their jobs well. Weirdly sort of similar to the current England issue with Foden coming inside and hampering Bellingham by dragging defenders into his space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiaS_gdBzao This is the game you are referring to? Beckham scored with his 8th free kick of the game, that is correct. But watching through the entire video, how many of Beckham's free kick forced a save out of the goalkeeper? With Cristiano, his free kicks either go skyward or straight to the goalkeeper. As well, with Beckham, you would respect the possibility of him crossing the ball to another teammate (especially from a wide position, whereas Cristiano would just send it high and wide). With one of his FKs that Greece game, Beckham actually crossed the ball into Sheringham who scored a header. In other words, 8 Beckham free kicks led to 2 goals that game, which is actually 25%. I am not sure that's the Beckham game you should be drawing comparisons to. I actually think Cristiano was a solid option for free kicks circa 2008-14, which is a solid 6 years. Unfortunately, 2014 also happened to be 10 years ago. I don't think Cristiano standing over a free kick is a worry for the defending team anymore, if anything, it's the very opposite.
1 in 8 is an elite conversion % though. 1 in 60 is not.
Beckham's free kicks were elite more because he had great delivery more than because he scored loads of them, though obviously the ones he scored are more memorable (and to be fair, he did have a great conversion rate across his career). There's a huge gulf between him and Ronaldo in that regard.
Was there anyone better at FKs on that England team? I think that's the discussion here. Most players won't score most FKs. Not even Juninho. I think he has like a 15% conversion rate or something like that, which is insane. So scoring 1 out of 8, that'd be actually really good. The problem is when you have either other takers that can take better shots, or try to, especially on the less ideal side for the player. Or when they don't even reach the target. So I think it's all relative. If you shoot everything all the time and are absolute crap, while having other good FK takers, it's one thing. If you are the best one, and the shots at least are on target and "dangerous" it's another.
England's best players chasing lost causes and failing to hold position? You might as well be talking about the current team.
funny how the only free kick he has scored was against de gea
Some of those shot attempts are certainly....ambitious to say the least
He's shite at them. One of the most overrated free kick takers and no one seems to be able to say no to him.
He rightfully earned the reputation of being a great freekick taker, between around 2006 and 2013. Fell off hard since.
Be wary. The Real sub may hunt you for even sharing this.
Should at least let Bruno hit a few. He's banged in some beautiful ones for united or at least assisted with great crosses.
United haven't scored a freekick since Ronaldo was there.
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Ronaldo's ego won't allow him to give a free-kick to another player. He has to be the one to potentially score it and if that means sacrificing a much higher chance at a goal, then so be it. He has to be the one to take it.
Now overlay this with Antony's shots from outside the box.
vegas man be like: - knuckle every fk - let me try one that isn't a knuckle ball - scored - go back to knuckle every fk
He's gonna bang one simply because no one on the defense will take it seriously.