For over a decade, it’s been one of the most iconic sights in football.
The ball spotted, Cristiano Ronaldo closing his eyes and controlling his breathing,
and every pair of eyes in the stadium and on sofas around the world settling upon him.
It’s the classic set up for a Ronaldo free-kick
But was he actually good at them?
First, a distinction: we’re not talking about the quality of free-kicks that Ronaldo scored,
because clearly some of his set-piece goals are among the finest in modern footballing history.
No, we’re dealing with volume: how efficient was Ronaldo’s free-kick taking?
The Athletic’s Mark Carey and Tim Spiers have dug into the data to find out.
During his first spell at Manchester United,
Ronaldo scored from 13 free-kicks, among those were the famous Portsmouth goal,
and swirling long-range attempts against Sporting Club and Arsenal in the Champions League.
However, the peak of his powers with the dead ball really occurred at Real Madrid.
He would score 32 goals in nine seasons. His most prolific was actually his first,
in 2009-10, when he scored six times,
including one against Villarreal at the Bernabeu which was clocked at a speed of 101.5km/h.
And yet, as this chart shows, his most efficient season – i.e. when his free-kick conversion rate
was at its highest – was in 2013-14, when he scored five goals at a conversion rate of 10%.
The drop off since has been startling. Famously, it took him 43 attempts to score his first direct
free-kick for Juventus, a run which extended over more than a season. When back at Manchester
United, he didn’t fair any better. While there were other set-piece experts in situ at Old
Trafford, notably Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford, Ronaldo would score just one free-kick
in just under eighteen months and his efficiency average since 2009 would be down to just 6%.
For the sake of context, this chart – researched and plotted by The Athletic’s Mark Carey – shows
the conversion rates from free-kicks across the top-five European leagues between 2016 and 2022,
showing Ronaldo to be a below average free-kick taker for much of that period.
Between 2016 and March 2022, no player in those leagues scored more direct free-kick
goals than Lionel Messi, who netted 22 times from 200 attempts, at a conversion rate of
10%. As this chart shows, which maps Messi’s season-by-season free-kick efficiency, his most
productive set-piece years have actually occurred later in his career. In four separate seasons,
his free-kick efficiency exceeded that 10% Ronaldo achieved once, in his best year at Real Madrid.
Most likely, that doesn’t align with expectation – a Ronaldo free-kick has
always seemed like a greater spectacle. They also tend to be more memorable.
A good example of that is Ronaldo’s record in World Cups and European Championships. He
scored one of the most celebrated goals in recent World Cup history
against Spain at the 2018 World Cup, but – prior to Qatar 2022 – that was
his only tournament goal for Portugal from a direct free-kick in 53 attempts.
Comparisons and statistics only tell part of the story, though. Other factors are involved
but not necessarily reflected, including goalkeeping performance and the fact that,
unlike many takers, Ronaldo has frequently chosen to shoot from long-distances. The
primary aim has been to score, of course, but – if not - to trouble
a goalkeeper with unpredictable ball flight and perhaps create a rebound opportunity for
a teammate. The cost, however, is often the degradation of his efficiency rating.
This chart, which plots the position of those 53 free-kicks taken at international tournaments
describes that issue perfectly and, with his club free-kicks spread across a similar range,
also offers a partial explanation for why Ronaldo’s conversion rate is so low.
Very few of his contemporaries have so regularly taken direct shots from such long distances.
Unusually, Ronaldo has also varied his technique across his career. From 2011 onwards, according
to research by Eurosport, he began striking his free-kicks with a lower part of his foot,
well below the neck of the right toe. In addition to which, before and after that point, the type
of free-kick he has chosen to strike has often varied – Ronaldo is not solely a knuckleballer,
nor is he loyal to a particular shape of shot in the way that someone like,
for instance, David Beckham was or James Ward-Prowse currently is.
Another factor has been Ronaldo’s body. While he has been celebrated for his longevity and his
goalscoring well into his 30s, Ronaldo was actually diagnosed with a condition called
tendinosis in his left knee all the way back in 2014, when he was still in his 20s. Similar,
but not the same as tendonitis, it’s considered a chronic condition and,
although perhaps coincidental, it’s nonetheless interesting to see how it coincided with the
decline in his free-kick efficiency, given the strain his technique might place on his left knee.
Whatever the true effect, the diagnosis is probably the same. Was Cristiano Ronaldo
a good free-kick taker? For a while, absolutely. Over the longer-term, though,
he was more a scorer of a great free-kicks than a consistently great taker of them.