Best free kick takers in La Liga history

Free kicks, a way to restart the game, and sometimes a comeback for the teams that are rewarded it. The referee will award it when the opposing team breaks the rules and it's rather direct or indirect. The referee would award the direct free kick once some serious offenses such as handball and most types of foul play. On the other hand, the indirect one would be awarded for less serious offenses. As it was mentioned earlier, free kicks could be a major comeback for a team if the person behind the ball is skilled enough to turn this big of a chance into a goal or even an assist.Taking a good free-kick is a form of art and it demands practice, talent, and creativity to master this essential and important technique. There are many different free-kick takers who employ different methods on how to take a free kick. So we can spend days talking about players and their ways on how to take a good freekick. Unfortunately, we have limitations and we can't mention every single free kick taker around the world in one article but for now, we want to review some individuals who are considered the

Top 10 best free-kick takers in La Liga history

.

Greatest free kick takers in La Liga history

Scratch that, Let's move forward to have an in-depth look at the best free kick takers in La Liga history.

Hristo Stoichkov

• Barcelona

One of the names on our list of the 

best free kick takers in La Liga history

belongs to the current commentator and Bulgarian former professional footballer, Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov.Born on 8 February 1966 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Stoichkov began his football career playing for his hometown club when he was just 11 years old. Very soon he showed his high talents and potentials and in 1982, he moved to Hebros Harmanli starting his senior career.

At the club level, Stoichkov played for many teams during his professional careers, such as CSKA Sofia,

, Parma, CSKA Sof, Al-Nassr, Kashiwa Reysol, Chicago Fire, and D.C. United but one of his most brilliant eras refer to the years when he played with Barcelona. During his stay in Barcelona, He became part of manager Johan Cruyff's "Dream Team" and an idol for the club's fans.

Stoichkov was regarded as one of the best players of his generation and he was notable at taking free kicks and penalties.

Gheorghe Hagi

• Real Madrid- Barcelona

The current owner of Romanian club Viitorul Constanța is the next individual in our list of the greatest free kick takers in La Liga history.Regarded as one of the best Romanian footballers of all time, Hagi was a creative, talented player who was popular for his technique, dribbling abilities, passing, and shooting.

Born on 5 February 1965 in Sacele, Romania, Hagi started his youth career in 1975 with FC Constanța. After 7 years of playing with this team as well as Luceafarul Bucuresti, he started his senior career in 1982. At the club level, he mainly played for Spanish teams and since the beginning, established himself as a star in La Liga history. He won many trophies and titles during those years including Supercopa de Espana in 1990 and Supercopa de España in 1994.

Hagi was a quick player, capable of playing in several midfield and offensive positions and he was a great free kick taker.

Juan Roman Riquelme

• Barcelona- Villarreal

The next position in the list of the

best free kick takers in La​ Liga history

belongs to Juan Roman Riquelme. He is a former Argentine professional footballer and the new second vice-president of

, where he is also in charge of the football department, which includes the youth academy and women's sections.Born on 24 June 1978 in San Fernando, Argentina,  Riquelme started his senior career in 1996 with  Boca Juniors, the team that would become his home and where he developed himself as a talented football player.

Riquelme joined Barcelona in July 2002, after seven fruitful seasons with Boca Juniors in which he and the club won six major titles, including the Intercontinental Cup and the Copa Libertadores in 2000. His successes continued with Barca where he established himself as one of the best players as well as one of the Top 10 best free-kick takers in La Liga history.

Roberto Carlos

• Real Madrid

Regarded as a part of one of the greatest players in football history, Roberto Carlos undoubtedly belongs to the list of the best free kick takers in La Liga history. When it comes to the role of a left-back and the best players that have played that role, Roberto Carlos’ name is one of the first that comes to mind. He is called Bullet Man due to his exceptional pace and powerful left-footed shots.Carlos who was originally a forward brought his attacking sensibilities to the role of the left-back.

Carlos joined

in 1996 and during his 10 years with the club, he became one of the greatest players as well as one of the best free kick takers in La Liga history.During his professional career, he won many honors such as winning 3 Champions League and 4 La Liga titles and represented his country in 3 different World Cups, being runners-up in the 1998 World Cup and winning the competition in 2002.

Diego Maradona

• Barcelona- Sevilla

When we are talking about Top 10 best free-kick takers in La Liga history, how can we don't mention this legend! Unfortunately, he passed away recently and we lost him but his legacy will remain.Diego Armando Maradona is considered one of the greatest footballers of all time. He was a skillful and creative player with an eye for a goal. Nicknamed The Golden Boy," he was a gifted individual with vision, passing, ball control, and dribbling techniques whose free-kicks are well-known too.

He began his senior career with a club named Argentinos Juniors on On 20 October 1976. He went on to play with great teams such as

, Barcelona, etc. With his national team, he scored 34 times within the 91 matches he played on Argentina's side. He participated in four world cups and won one.

In addition to his greatness, we must mention he was a prolific playmaker and goal scorer, a great leader whose presence had a great effect on his team's general performance. He was agile and his small structure helped his extraordinary dribbling skills. Unfortunately, he was troubled off-field life and was banned on some occasions due to drug abuse but this doesn't deny the fact he is a legend in football history.

David Beckham

• Real Madrid

The next person on our list of the best free kick takers in La Liga history is none other than one of the most unforgettable players in the world, David Beckham. The fact is that no one can even imitate Beckham's free kicks, yet with special individual training and techniques. Whenever he wanted to shoot a free-kick, Beckham made sure if the ball was motionless and then he went six to seven steps away from the stationary ball. He examined the state of the ground - the defensive wall, the goalkeeper's situation, and the distance from the goal - and adjusts himself with the ball at a 45-degree angle. At that angle, he could get closer to the ball with his controlled steps, later he fixed his feet 5 to 6 inches from the ball. As he kicked the ball, Beckham moved his opposite arm around and bowed his body gently back to raise the ball off the ground.

This technique causes the ball to rotate along the inside of his kicking foot. it would accelerate the speed and height and sometimes hit the defensive wall and the goalie. To achieve the best result and give an extra spin on the ball, Beckham used to put his kicking foot across the ball and with calculated pressure hit the desired side of the ball.

In the history of the Premier League, no one has scored more than DB7. Still now, even years after his farewell, he holds a place on the list of the best free kick takers in La Liga history. As a player, he tried his best and worked a lot on his free-kicks by training with a hanging a tire in the top corner of the goal, so whenever he stood behind the defensive wall, his unique techniques gave a remarkable wave to the ball so that it could pass the wall and then the goalie and settle down in the net. Here it worth mentioning that the great Beckham is the fifth, standing behind Ronaldinho, on the list of the best free-kick scorer in the world with his successful 65 goals.

Ronaldinho

• Barcelona

Being known as one of the greatest and most skillful players both of his generation and of all time, Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaucho, was born on March 21, 1980, in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Ronaldinho has been surrounded by football since the day he came into this life, his father, his brother and his uncles were all football players. At the age of eight, Ronaldo's football skills began to take shape and he was nicknamed "Ronaldinho" simply because he was often the youngest player in youth club competitions.

Ronaldinho has been given the chance to play in several clubs in Brazil, France, Spain, and Italy. In 1998 he started his senior career with Gremio and continued with

. He joinedBarcelona in 2003 where he won many honors including La Liga in 2004–05, 2005–06, Supercopa de España in 2005, 2006 and UEFA Champions League in 2005–06. He established himself as a star in La Liga and will be remembered as one of the best free kick takers in La Liga history.

Ronald Koeman

• Barcelona

The other name in our list of the Best free kick takers in La Liga history is the Dutch professional football manager and former player, Ronald Koeman who is the current head coach of the Spanish club, FC Barcelona.

Koeman began his professional football career with local clubs, VV Helpman and GRG Groningen. He progressed to FC Groningen and made his debut at the age of 17. This made him one of the youngest players in the club's history. After playing with Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, he joined Barcelona in 1989. He was one of the best players of Barca with a high ability to take free kicks. One of his best strikes in La Liga came in the memorable 5–0 win over Real Madrid in 1994, with his bending free kick making the scoreline 2–0. With Barca, he had 192 appearances, scored 67 goals, and won many honors including La Liga in 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, Copa del Rey in 1989–90, Supercopa de España in 1991, 1992, 1994, European Cup in 1991–92 and European Super Cup in 1992.

Cristiano Ronaldo

• Real Madrid

Everybody knows who he is! The five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo is definitely among the best free kick takers in La Liga history. He is considered by some the greatest footballer in the world or of all time.

Born on 5 February 1985 in Madeira, Portugal, he started football when he was seven years old. He played for an amateur team Andorinha for three years, then spent two years with Nacional. In 1997, he joined and played for the Sporting CP youth team till 2002, when he joined the B team and then the first team. In Sporting, he played as a traditional winger. After a year with the Lions, he set a record fee of £12.24 in the Premier League and joined

. After winning a champions league and three Premier Leagues in his seven-year spell for the Red Devils, he joined Los Blancos in 2009 for a world record transfer fee of £80 million.

In Sporting and Manchester's first season, he played as a traditional winger renowned for his dribbling and tricks like flip-flap. After that, he played a more offensive role, and when he joined Madrid and his defensive duties became more limited. With his skills, dribbling, speed, accurate shooting and header, and so many other things, he earned his place among the best free kick takers in La Liga history. After 9 years of dominance, he left the Whites and joined Juventus in 2018.

Lionel Messi

• Barcelona

The Argentinian legend Lionel Andres Messi is undoubtedly among the Top 10 best free-kick takers in La Liga history. He is a record six-time Ballon d'Or winner, he won FIFA World Player of the Year, European Golden Shoe, etc, which tells how great he is.He spent all of his club careers with Barcelona and in the past few years he captains the team. At the international level, he started playing for his national team in 2005 and he captains Argentina in the past few years as well. So far with Barca, he has made 753 appearances, assisted 284 times, and scored 648 goals. And with Argentina, he assisted 51 times and scored more than 71 goals within 142 games.

Messi began his professional career in 2003 after he got trained in Newell's Old Boys and Barcelona's youth clubs. Since then, we have seen this legendary footballer play for 19 seasons. Having a short structure, Messi has great agility and is one of the quickest players. His balance, finishing, positioning, quick reactions, dribbling abilities, goalscoring skills, and so many other things justify his place in the list of greatest players in football history as well as best free kick takers in La Liga history.

So that was the list. unfortunately, we couldn't mention every single great footballer whose freekicks were the saving grace of the teams in Spain's first division league. However, we did our best to give you the top 10! hope we did well enough. If not, Who do you think we missed. Let us know. Thank you for reading this article.

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