Juninho was such a nightmare… So glad we don’t get to face him in Ligue 1 every season anymore. Pretty much a goal guaranteed if you dared foul a Lyon player within 30m of your own posts.

The goal keepers that had to see Andrea Pirlo, David Beckham and Ronaldinho step up for a freekick at AC Milan was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen. Goosebumps

In Pirlo's book, he goes into massive detail about how, in his latter years, he spent such a long time trying to study and copy Juninho's style of free kicks. Imagine being so good that even Pirlo wants to be like you!

Juninho was Real Madrid’s biggest bully. Him and the Lyon side kept Real Madrid in round 16 for a few seasons. That Lyon side was PSG level without PSG money

Nakamura needs a mention, he had roughly 50 free kick goals in the 21st century including two against Man United in the champions league

Zico and Mihajlovic are heavily underrated, Juninho was inspired by Zico, and Zico was the first player to consistently score on freekicks, Juninho perfected it, and made it an art.

As a Spurs fan, every-time I see Harry line up for a free kick, I genuinely fall onto my knees in disappointment.

I think if we took Bartek to the Sistene chapel he’d be like ‘This is poor painting technique, not as good as Juninho Pernambucano’s free kicks!’

I remember watching Juninho in his time at Lyon and thinking this guy is the best free kick taker I've ever seen. There was a rumour that keepers stopped arranging a wall so they could see the flight of the ball, not sure how true it was but definitely adds to the sentiment

The free kick I'll always remember is pirlo hitting the bar with a knuckle ball in the World Cup. Nobody has given Joe hart nightmares quite like him

This was really good. Someone who knows what he's talking about given the freedom to share his knowledge, its given me lots of stuff to think about regarding free kick takers

Juninho..He could hit all types.

Marcelinho Carioca was so unbelievably good! He was called "The Angel Foot" over here, and not just by us Corinthians fans. I got to see him scoring an amazing and iconic free kick against Palmeiras in the State Championship Final of 1995. Mesmerizing, specially watching it as a child!

I'm kinda surprised Rogério Ceni still ranks at #2. He was a threat for other teams whenever there was a foul close to the box. The fans would cheer so much when he crossed the field from his goal to take the FK. He's my childhood hero and now he's the manager of the only team he played ❤️

Any data for Mihajlovic? At least for a couple of seasons, he seemed to be the ultimate threat on free kicks. Still remember his free-kick hat-trick.

Juninho every day of the year. The fact that other great free kick takers learned from him, tells you all you need to know. There was an interview with Pirlo about the day he realised Juninho's secret and since then he himself came a great free kick taker.

That kind of free kick that Juninho perfected was actually popularized (or maybe invented?) by Didi, a super popular brazilian player from the 50s and 60s (he was awarded as the best player in the 1958 world cup). He called it "the dry leaf kick" due to the unpredictability of the ball's route. He was certainly an inspiration.

The knuckleball is a technique that was called Folha Seca, and was invented by 1958 World Cup mvp Didi, who was a great free kick taker. He did knuckleballs even when taking penalties and with the game ongoing. His shots had erratic trajectories wich made keepers terrified of facing him. It is something so rare that only Juninho can be said to be a true master of the technique (Cristiano Ronaldo tries to spam it without rhyme or reason).

Juninho used to train with the ball of each of his opponants. Apparently in league 1 every clubs had his own type of brand at that time. And he convinced Lyon to aquire all the brands and train the week before with the ball he would use the next week-end.

JWP, Totti, Beckham, think we missed a key issue, free kicks isn’t only scoring but also who can whip in a ball for an assist

Rogerio Ceni 59 goals.....from a goal keeper!

I agree Messi isnt the best pure striker of the ball, but his placement and ability to curve the ball with pinpoint accuracy to score is sublime

Zico could be here as a horable mention. Zico was the "Free-Kick Man" in Brazil before Juninho, Assunção, and Marcelinho (this one started his career when Zico was close to retirement and got his "blessing" to become a great free-kick taker) and became an inspiration for a generation. I understand he isn't there because he has played almost his entire career for Flamengo (BRA) and a few years for Udinese (ITA) in the 80's, but I miss him here...

Messi’s 30 / 35 yard free kick against Liverpool I thought was pretty outrageous, was inch perfect for a curler. He does get a lot of power for a little guy.

Juninho is a well-known phenom in Europe but don't sleep on the other guys Bartek mentioned. Marcelinho Carioca is a two-time champion of the Brazilian league, elected best player in Brazil in 1999, the highest assister, fifth-highest scorer and possibly biggest icon in the history of one of Brazil's biggest clubs. His nickname was "Pé de Anjo", which translates to "Angel-footed", and much like Juninho he could hit free kicks with terrifying force, precision and change of direction. Hell of a player.

I don't think stats work that way or do they? Ward-prowse can't be statistically a better free kick taker than Messi because his conversion rate is 14% while Messi's is 10% We have to see what Ward-Prowse's conversion rate is after another 130 attempts... Something makes me think his conversion percentage won't be 14% after another 130 shots. Isn't that similar to a Movie having a 5 star review but only being reviewed by 2 people? idk, maybe it does work that way, but something makes me think he definitely can't keep up a 14% conversion rate for another 130 shots.

sad that it wasn't even Mentioned Ceni was a GK!

I'd be interested to know this guy's opinion on Pirlo, who admitted he studied 'best free kick taker ever' Juninho's technique, and could score from pretty much anywhere. He had the knuckle ball, he had the bend, he had the outside of the foot reverse bend, he had the top spin, he had so much in his locker. One of the best in my opinion. But something that this expert is missing, is the fact that technical ability is not the only measure of a brilliant free kick taker, but understanding and reading of the game. Hitting the ball under the wall, or taking a cheeky chip over the wall, is still part of the arsenal of a good free kick taker. It's the mental side of it. Technically maybe another player is better than you, but if you understand how to catch the opposition off guard...and end up scoring more free kicks as a result...then fair play to you.

Marcos assunção was impressive. On the field even older in Brasil he was worth to put on the pitch because of his free kicks alone. Bought him 3 years of playing time

Hearing someone say ‘Messi just isn’t a good ball striker’ is crazy to hear, but very interesting and insightful. Already rumours Barca are lining up a €100m Bid for their new saviour, James Ward Prowse.

Really interesting discussion and great video topic. I was a little disappointed at the amount of evidence used to support the arguments. Aside from the “top-spin” “knuckleball” ability criteria, it didn’t seem like there were many objective metrics used to support saying one player is good and another player is bad. For example Coutinho being deemed good for scoring 5, but not having taken many free kicks relative to the other leaders, and therefore having a high conversion rate seems like a possible sample size bias. Also I’m all for the top spin technique being awesome and potentially better but I feel I would be much more convinced if the video showed evidence that top spin efforts were more successful than curlers rather than just saying they better because theyre faster and the specialist coach likes them better. Seems like a missed opportunity to make a strong argument and compelling point

A player who was not mentioned here, and was one of the five who scored a hattrick of goals from free kicks, is Lazio left back Siniša Mihajlović. That guy was a monster from a free kick. He was in the same period of Assensio and Juninho and was on par with them for sure.

I'm intrigued by the volume of Brazilians on the list, and in the conversation in general. I never thought this was also in their domain.

As a Vasco fan, Juninho had already scored some brilliant free kicks way before moving to Lyon. In 1998 he scored the most important goal in Vasco's Libertadores title campaign from a set piece. Also, after returning to Brazil aged 36 he still had it. Although it was clearly more difficult for him to hit the top spots, he would still score a few bangers with low flying knuckleballs hitting the ground before the keeper had any chance of reaction. He was an amazing player. Also, I am happy that the specialist included Marcelinho and Marcos Assunção in his top 3. Since Marcelinho has never made an impact in Europe he is ofter disregarded in this matter, but he really was an incredibly amazing set piece taker.

This video is very interesting but I'm most impressed they got Bartek to talk about free-kicks, who i never knew about before playing Football Manager, just because he is a great attacking coach in the game and was very cheap in past iterations of the game so i always got him on all my saves.

Marcos Assunção literally saved Palmeiras from relegation through freekicks

This video is phenomenal at showing the importance of qualitative data in modern football. Over the last 5 years, there has been a push for quantitative data which is well placed but someone sitting down and talking about tiny details of spin, gravity and technical deficiencies goes missing when we just look at the numbers. (Also, he was defo referring to Ronaldinho @ 7:30)

That Kane graphic when he says there are free kick takers who relentlessly do things that don't work 😂

Juninho played in an era where the trend for footballs was to have a low panel count where the amount surface with area between seams was large. This really helped the knuckleball technique. I don’t believe he could get the same “movement” out of todays balls. For instance the current nike premier league ball has ridges all over it designed to make it more stable, eliminating the “movement” that you saw from Juninhos knuckleballs. Same with the current adidas ball where the seams go back and forth across the ball reducing the surface area between seams.

I would love to have heard a breakdown of David Beckham's ability as a free kick taker

what the hell, a polish Bartek that works at Brentford i am a polish Bartek whose favorite club is Brentford

Yup.. i tot Mihaijlovic would be up there for best free kick takers. That guy scored a hat trick from free kicks. Another player I thought would be mentioned was Michel Platini, he was pretty deadly from free kicks i think. Honorable mentions: Gheorghe Hagi, Ronald Koeman, Zico

Juninho's freekicks were always like penalties. The chances they went in were more likely than not. And I'm a huge Messi fan. But this video also talks about something I always bring up in Messi vs. Ronaldo debates as well. Juninho is simply TECHNICALLY better at freekicks than Messi. Messi might be better in other aspects of the game, but in the sense of freekicks, Juninho is better. While this argument also goes for the Messi vs. Ronaldo debate. As where Messi is technically better in a lot of aspects of the game as well. Like his vision of the game, his passing, free kicks and dribbling.

Massive Lyon fan here, I remember watching Lyon play one mourning and we were about 1/4 into the season and the commentator mentioned 45% of Lyons goals had come from Juninhos set pieces, goals and assists. I can’t remember the year but I remember just thinking how absurd that sounds. But I feel like what was missing in the video is goal contributions from free kicks too, Juninho would sometimes send in the perfect passes from free kicks that would most of the time convert into goals too

Petteri Forsell is an example of current player that is able to score freekicks with side spin, top spin and knuckleball. Polish and Finnish fans know him well.

Just watched a compilation... Good Lord the movement Junior routinely gets on the ball is astonishing, and it looks like he can even aim where the final swerve lands. Normally you hit a knuckle straight at the goal and hope for the best...that's why you sometimes see shots straight at the keeper, because the ball didn't knuckle. But Juniper can place it.

Good video. Great to have that specialist perspective.

Haven't watched but very recenetly read an article about Roberto Carlos who maybe hurt Real Madrid by taking so many free kicks after his knuckleball against france, as he took freekick duties off of guys like Figo, Zidane or Beckham.

I know he'll never get mentioned due to him never reaching his potential, but holy hell, Dzsudzsák was an animal with free kicks back at PSV. I'll never forget that insane free kick against Ajax from the side of the penalty area

I felt that “hello”.

Absolutely top notch video. Classic Tifo. Great information from the Brentford coach.

I don't know why but I've always found it so satisfying watching keepers crumpled up against the goal posts with their legs up in the air after floundering an attempt at stopping a Juninho free kick.

Don't forget Zico!!! the predecessor that inspired all the greatest Brazilians free kickers

Alban Meha was also an insane free kick specialist, although he never really played at a high level so not many people know him

Fantastic video, extremely informative. Plus introducing me to some new talent from days gone by.

One of the best videos I've ever seen on the channel, and this subject in general. Fantastic content! I wonder what the technical analyst would've thought about the difference in effectiveness between 'bending' a ball into the corner and hitting knuckle, where he thinks the optimal place for a direct free kick is, and the absolute slander he would've dished out to Roberto Carlos and Ricardo Quaresma for their ludicrous (and surely unimanigably ineffective) outside of the boot strikes.

Is crazy how many brazilians are free-kick masters.

I think things like on target% should also be look at in addition to conversion rate bc a single free kick can change your rate in a season a ton (even if its lucky) but being able to put the ball on frame consistently has its merits. I think assists from free kicks should be the third category bc the ability to deliver a ball and or make the defense doubt itself is key. That's why JWP is the best for me. It's not just that he can score its that he can assist with ease as well

What I think should also be considered when saying that none of the current crop of FK specialists are of the level of the likes of Juninho is that, since then, strides that have been made in goalkeeper coaching and analysis. I completely understand that data on this is hard to come by but it would be interesting to see the breakdown of FKs taken/FKs On Target/FKs Off Target etc to get an even greater idea of consistency

Mihajlovic also scored a hattrick free kicks in Lazio I believe

Juninho, no doubt about this.

Nakamura Shunsuke was a fantastic free-kick taker and will always be one of my favourites.

After spending hours on twitter I come to tifo and remember how much I love tifo

As a venezuelan I may be biased in this but Juan Arango could hit a mean free kick. Anyone who watched the Bundesliga in the early 2010's and la Liga in the 2000's can tell you that. I recommend checking him out

I know this is would require looking at a lot of extraneous variables from Bartek's perspective (given that he is focusing on the technique of the takers) but I wonder what kind of impact improvements in the way goalkeepers (and defenders) prepare for free kicks might have had on conversion rates in the last 15-20 years? I love watching the full compilations of free kicks scored by players that i grew up with like Juninho and Mihailovic , however, at times, the goalkeeping/defending does seem calamitously bad on a few of the "filler" ones and it seems like there have been some advances in things like wall positioning to not leave keeper effective handicapped at close range and adding "draft excluders" etc. Obviously, it's very hard to train to defend again a free kick taker like Juninho unless there is one on your team but It'd be interesting to know (given the scientific advances coming into football now) why free kick takers are getting worse? Is it just that it's an innate talent and the current generation doesn't have much or are there other factors involved? Is there any data on the numbers /percentages of free kicks on target / blocked en route to goal by defenders? If so, have these numbers changed much for the top players of this generation vs previous ones?

Rogerio ceni? Imagine the confidence you must have to come up and take a free kick as a goalkeeper and scoring nearly 60 of them too

I love how this video just kinda turned into slagging messi's free kick taking ability off.

Bartek! Absolute legend of a coach in FM. I wonder if / how often JJ has signed him...

I am no free kick taker analysis, but even i know that freekicks are very situational... To use only data to and technique to determine how do a freekick taker is isn't telling the whole story for each freekick... That Messi free kick the analysis mentioned was in my opinion very intelligent... If you watched the game and that run of play Messi realized that the defense was not organized in setting up the wall to defend said freekick, Messi had taken notice of the miscommunication and disorganization of the team to setup a simple wall and he took advantage. All i am saying is that just like other aspects of football where stats dont tell the whole story i think this is also a similar aspect.

Just for those (probably majority) of you who don't know who Rogério Ceni is, the second one to score more free kick goals in the list, he was a GOALKEEPER. That's amazing!

Super interesting video. Loved the expert analysis from Bartek

Marcos Assunção was an absolute monster, definitely recommend looking him up.

just watched a compilation video of juninhio... what's probably most insane about his technique is the ability to hit a ball over the wall then for it to be in the bottom corner

We need more of this guy, and generally specialist coaches like him!!! Absolutely fascinating!!!

Great to finally meet my first go to addition to my coaching staff on Championship Manager!

I think this underrates messi, while juninho shot better from range and harder angles, messi had impeccable placement, so that even at lower speed, the goal keeper would have no way to get the ball still. Along with intellegent shots like the chip shot or going under the wall.

Brilliant video but one note (apologies, I'm an epidemiologist so obsessed) - the thing you're measuring in terms of ratios (free kick goals as a ratio of attempted) is too small to claim that, say, Coutinho is better than Messi at them. He's only scored 5. As an extreme example, if I came on in a prem game and scored a free kick (dramatically unlikely) then my conversion would be 100% - but it would be a fluke.

I really appreciated that some new names are finally shown - Juninho is well known in Europe but not much talked about, there is a chance I have heard of a Marcos Assuncao in the distant past but Marcelinho Carioca I am pretty sure I never heard about before. In defense of more recent players, however, I dare say that teams' defensive proficiency and GK skill have improved. Also, I wonder if there is a greater tendency for team to have the team play the ball on set pieces as opposed to directly shooting towards the net?

The expert missed Sinisa Mihajlovic. He was the best until juninho Pernambucano. That guy was a free kick beast he even scored a free kick hat tricks in games.

I wish this video contained actual clips from the goals JJ were using as examples..

Sad to see not a greater mention of Roger Ceni. If you’re allowed to take free kicks as a goalie, you must be incredible.

Wouldn't the statistics be skewed for players hitting free-kicks in lower quality leagues? They aren't going to be up against elite keepers often.

would love to see the data on keisuke honda, used to love him as a kid

Yeah. That Messi goal analysis was amazing. He scored a lot because of his superior footballing intellect and long time practice. The ability to stay in form for this long time is also an important thing.

6:29 idk what he's talking about, from the same range (right at the penalty box line at centre) juninho only scored maybe 2 goals by getting the ball over the wall, you can check it yourself. messi scored 3 i think

I'd love to know how good Nakamura was statistically. He was only able to kick curve balls like Beckham but I feel like probability of scoring was pretty good.

The shear diversity of Juninho's free kicks is astounding - whatever was needed he could adapt.

Juninho wouldn’t even claim he was the first Brazilian to popularize the Knuckleball, Dida was known for his knuckleball and top spin free kicks in the 50’s, then Rivellino in the 70’s

Juninho was the stuff of legend.. Surprised no mention of Zico 🤔

Mihajlovic was a wonderful free kick taker

Juninho is surely a better free kick taker cause of the distance and consistency he can shoot but imo Messi had better moments (scoring in La Liga, Champions League, etc). He had more big time free kick goals while Juninho had more overall goals but against Ligue 1 teams and against weak sides in international football.

What is Juninho's free kick conversion rate though? I couldn't find it in the video

I rarely saw Juninho play, but I remember Mihailovic and Nakamura being excellent with high conversion rates. But the most impressive free kick taker I've seen was Alvaro Recoba, a specialist fk taker while he was in his teens.

as a spurs fan. it pisses me off so much Harry Kane still takes free kicks over someone like Eric Dier, who is genuinely pretty good at them.

One thing I'll give to Becks and Messi: reading the game and deciding what shot works best in the situation. Unlike some other players who keep trying the same technique over and over regardless of results.

Can you take a look at Liston Colaco's free kicks. Ofcourse he isn't playing against top flight European teams, rather even not in Europe, but still he has got an amazing dip and an appreciable conversion rate.

Now I want to see this fella take a free kick

Can you do the best long ball distributer in the game? Would love to hear about David Beckham.

Wow, I watch tifo pretty often and regard it as really top notch football channel. But yeah but, can't believe you omitted Sinisa Mihailovic - not sure if I spelled it right. Or perhaps brining his name here makes me feel wee bit older. Sinisa played in Serie A, 90s and 00's. Which reminds me of Alvaro Recoba as well. How about Del Piero or Totti

Well in early days for me Pirlo was a scary face for keepers but Juninho when I got to see him first time with Brasil was spectacular and scored a free kick like nothing later I got to know about his speciality god he's just the best