Think Cristiano Ronaldo is a free kick expert? Well, he has scored his fair share of goals from set pieces for Real Madrid, but it’s been almost a year since he last found the net with nothing but a wall and a goalkeeper standing in his way.
By AS‘s calculations, Ronaldo has failed to score on his last 51 free kick attempts. He hasn’t scored a free kick goal since the 4-0 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League on April 29, 2014.
Since then, he’s hit the wall 21 times, 14 of his shots went off target and 16 were either stopped by the goalkeeper or the goal’s frame.
It’s not that Madrid are too worried about this. Since Gareth Bale has arrived, the duo has split their free kick attempts on goal, depending on which side of the goal the ball is spotted on. Besides them, Real Madrid also have Isco and Toni Kroos as free kick specialists, while Luka Modric, James Rodriguez and Sergio Ramos aren’t too bad either, when they get the chance to show it.
As it usually goes with Ronaldo, he’ll probably pick up on this tidbit on some media outlet, or someone will tell him. And he’ll make sure to end the streak the next time he plays, obviously depending on what the official gives him (and Ronaldo isn’t too bad at diving to get what he wants). If not the free kick, there’s always the penalty spot. Ronaldo rarely misses from there, hitting 55 of his 60 penalties for Real Madrid the right way.