Lionel Messi is officially the king of scoring goals from outside the box.
Stats show that since the 2007/08 season, nobody in the top five European leagues has scored more from outside the penalty area than the Barcelona talisman, who has netted a staggering 69 goals from distance.
Of the 69, 48 have come from free-kicks. Messi has demonstrated a sensational dead-ball ability from a plethora of angles and distances.
His set-piece skills are so impressive that the SPORTbible audience voting him as the greatest free-kick taker to have ever played the game - pipping the likes of David Beckham, Juninho Pernambucano and Ronaldinho.
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Cristiano Ronaldo is second on the list of top scorers from outside the box, having scored 54. The Portuguese star's game has changed in recent years though and he now has the unfortunate pleasure of being named the second-worst free-kick taker in Serie A's history.
The 34-year-old has had 18 failed attempts in the league, with only Camillo Ciano, who had 21 for Frosinone last term, ahead of him.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic occupies third after scoring 35 long-range strikes in Italy, Spain, France and England, while a second Juventus representative comes in the form of Miralem Pjanic.
A dead-ball master, Pjanic scored his 27th outside of the box goal in Juventus' 2-0 win over SPAL last night,
Topics: Football News, FC Barcelona, Football, Messi, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo
