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Argentina's captain and star footballer Lionel Messi is just four goals shy of Diego Maradona's free-kick record. The late Argentine star scored 62 direct free-kick goals in his career, while Lionel Messi has 58 goals to his name. He is also just one goal away from featuring in the list of top ten goal-scorers from free-kick.
Messi scored his 58th free-kick goal in the Copa America quarter final against Ecuador. He was also part of the other two goals that were scored in the night of quarter-final. He assisted in the first two goals and then sealed the win for his team with a sublime free-kick. Out of the tally of 58, Messi has scored 50 for his club FC Barcelona while eight have come for his national team.
In the list of top 10 goal scorers from free-kicks, Diego Maradona sits at the sixth position with 62 goals. Ahead of Maradona are Juninho Pernambucano, who sits at the top with 77 direct free-kick goals, Pele with 70 goals, Victor Legrotagile and Ronaldinho with 66 each, and David Beckham with 65 goals. Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo is two goals shy of Messi with 56 direct free-kick goals in his career till now. Ronaldo has scored 32 for Real Madrid, 13 for Manchester United, 10 for Portugal and one goal for Juventus.
If we compare the percentage of free kick goals of Maradona and Messi, the former has scored 17 percent of the 353 as free-kick goals in his career. On the other hand, only 7.75 percent of goals have come from free-kicks for Messi.
