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#7 David Alaba
David Alaba continues to be a threat from direct free-kicks. His left-foot has benefitted Bayern Munich quite often and he has been in good form this season and has netted 2 goals from dead-ball situations.
Alaba himself has talked about how he has worked on set-pieces. Last year, he said,
“I started working on my free-kicks from a young age. Mehmet Scholl was my coach in the reserve team, and he made a lot of time for me. He really helped me refine my technique.”
“Lewy and I often stay out on the pitch during the week, practising free-kicks,
“Twenty minutes at least – sometimes half-an-hour.
Mehmet Scholl was a free kick maestro back in the day, scoring at least 13 goals (official records weren't kept before 1993 when he had already bagged 16 goals) from free kicks during his time with Bayern Munich.
The Austrian international has now 11 goals from direct free kicks in his career.
#6 Kevin de Bruyne and Dani Parejo
Kevin de Bruyne is one of those players who can do it all. Assists, goals, free kicks, right foot, left foot... let's not even go there. The Belgian international is an incredible technician and precision is the name of his game.
De Bruyne has been one of Manchester City's go-to free kick takers in a team packed with players who can deliver from deadball situations. KDB has scored 12 direct free-kicks just as many as Dani Parejo has scored.
The veteran, Parejo, who plays for Valencia has been extremely effective from set-pieces as well and is easily one of the best free kick specialists in the La Liga. He has scored 2 free kicks each in the last 2 seasons.
#5 Paulo Dybala
It almost looks like Paulo Dybala's mission this season was to prove to Juve how much they would have regretted it if they had let him leave last summer after he came very close to moving to Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Paulo Dybala has been one of the finest free kick takers in Europe for years now and it would be safe to say he has the second best left foot in the world right now.
The 26-year-old attacking midfielder has got 13 direct free kick goals to his name and it doesn't look like his technique will abruptly betray him any time soon. That means that there will be more beautiful free kicks for us to witness.
#4 Neymar Jr.
Neymar has scored some absolute blinders from set-pieces. But none is more memorable than his almost impossible free kick for Barcelona against Paris Saint-Germain on that fated night.
The Brazilian whose future is the topic of much discussion these days continues to be one of the best players in the world and has scored 15 direct free kicks in his career so far. And that's just one of his lesser used qualities.
Neymar's often puts the perfect amount of weight and swerve on his freekick and the balls nestling in the top corner is a joy to watch.
