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Cristiano Ronaldo has a different mindset than the others, fighting for greatness at all times.
He has achieved success in almost all of his endeavors, consistently scoring in Premier League, La Liga, and Serie A competitions, while collecting those five Ballon d’Or trophies along the way.
But despite all his success against goal, a certain aspect of his game is far from polished. Free shots.
Ronaldo’s free throws at their best are the exact definition of when the peak physically meets the peak technique.
After two knee injuries, he can’t even replicate it himself. Consider yourself lucky if you saw this live. pic.twitter.com/bfOI2aiQ7z
– ✰ (@ D7RK_KNIGHT) April 18, 2020
In his career to date, the Portuguese striker has scored some iconic free kick goals. 44 goals in his first 12 seasons, in fact.
That diverting effort against Portsmouth comes to mind. Not to mention that long-range effort against Arsenal in the Champions League semi-final.
But in terms of consistency, Ronaldo has struggled to find the target in recent times.
Since 2014, he has only found the net nine times out of a total of 174 free throw attempts. That’s the worst success rate (5%) of any player who has scored at least five in that time period.
So what happened to your free kick ability?
Dr. Rajpal Brar, a sports scientist, analyzed Ronaldo’s free kick struggles in a fascinating video, where he talks about patterns, injuries, and other important factors.
Should Ronaldo step aside and allow another player to take over the free kick duties full time?
Juventus have other great specialists in dead balls at their side, such as Paulo Dybala and Miralem Pjanić.
Earlier this year, Maurizio Sarri addressed the situation earlier this season and said he would leave the pieces up to his player.
Speaking at a press conference in October, the Italian said on ESPN:
“The free throws? We have two options with the right on the field: he [Pjanic] and Ronaldo. Therefore, they will have to decide between them who takes them, as happens almost everywhere else. “
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