The free kick record Lionel Messi may never beat
Messi holds a lot of records but this one may be one too many
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has scored 40 goals from free kicks. He has bagged 34 with the La Liga leaders and another six with Argentina. However, he's a long way short of some of the game's set-piece specialists, with the Brazilian Juninho Pernambucano, leading the way with 77.
Messi scored his most recent free kick in Saturday's 3-1 win over Leganes. It was his 34th for Barça and he has also scored direct free kicks for Argentina against Paraguay, Uruguay, Nigeria, Panama, USA and Colombia.
However, he's still a long way short of even entering the top 10 and it will be difficult for him to breach the most successful free kick takers in history. Among the top 10, though, are former Barça players Ronaldinho and Ronald Koeman.
Players who have scored the most free kicks:
- 77 goals: Juninho Pernambucano
- 70 goals: Pelé
- 66 goals: Víctor Legrotaglie
- 66 goals: Ronaldinho Gaúcho
- 65 goals: David Beckham
- 62 goals: Diego Armando Maradona
- 62 goals: Zico
- 60 goals: Ronald Koeman
- 59 goals: Rogério Ceni
- 59 goals: Marcelinho Carioca
- 57 goals: Kostas Frantzeskos
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