"Once or twice a year" - Miralem Pjanic says best free-kick taker in the world Lionel Messi hardly practices them in training
Barcelona loanee Miralem Pjanic has hailed Lionel Messi as the best free-kick taker in the world, claiming the Argentine rarely practices them in training.
Widely regarded as the best player of this generation, the Paris Saint-Germain superstar is a man of many talents. He is an excellent dribbler, can score from any angle, has the vision to pick out his teammates, and is an outstanding set-piece taker.
The 34-year-old former Barcelona ace has scored some excellent free-kicks in his career, with most of them leaving the keeper rooted to the spot.
When scoring 'normal' free-kicks are too easy, so you have to score a panenka...
#OTD in 2019 Messi was up to his usual tricks for @FCBarcelona!
👀 When scoring 'normal' free-kicks are too easy, so you have to score a panenka...
😅 #OTD in 2019 Messi was up to his usual tricks for @FCBarcelona!
#LaLigaSantander https://t.co/vfurTM5MST
Pjanic, who is a great free-kick taker himself, is an avid fan of the Argentine’s talents and believes his former Barca teammate is the best at the job. Generally, to be this good of a free-kick taker, one needs to dedicate hours and hours towards it. Iconic midfielder David Beckam achieved his accuracy through hours and hours of practice.
The Bosnian, however, claimed that the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner rarely bothered with free-kicks during training sessions. When asked to name the best free-kick taker in the world, Pjanic told La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Football Italia):
“Messi. I’ve practised free-kicks twice a week for 20-30 minutes a day, for my entire life. Maybe he practices one or twice a year, and that’s how he takes them.”
In his illustrious career, Messi has scored 58 direct free-kicks, scoring 50 for Barcelona and the remaining eight in Argentina’s colors. His arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo is not too far behind, scoring from 57 direct free-kicks. The Portuguese has scored 47 at club level and 10 for his nation. As per the latest report from Planet Sport, the Argentine has a better conversion rate than Ronaldo.He scores a free-kick approximately every 16 games, while Ronaldo does so approximately every 19 games.
Pjanic has had the distinguished honor of playing with both superstars. He played alongside Messi at Barcelona and with Ronaldo at Juventus.
Lionel Messi’s Argentina are fourth in latest FIFA World Rankings
FIFA recently released the latest men’s world rankings for the month of April 2022. Argentina, who were fourth in February’s ranking, have retained their spot this month, but have lost some ground.
Following a 1-1 draw with Ecuador in their final CONMEBOL World Cup qualifier, Messi’s side have seen 1.86 points deducted by FIFA.
Here's the FIFA ranking for every team still in FIFA World Cup contention 📊
Which team is the most underrated? https://t.co/2hx5YNub47
Although insignificant, it would certainly irk the Argentines, especially after seeing how well Brazil have done. Their arch-rivals topped the world rankings in April with 1832.69 points (+9.27 points), becoming the first team to dethrone Belgium since 2018.