Lionel Messi was voted the greatest free-kick taker of all-time in a SPORTbible poll thanks to his ridiculous ability from dead-ball situations.
The six-time Ballon d'Or winner has scored over 50 free-kicks in his decorated career and he's so good at finding the net from a range of angles and distances that teams have even started putting players behind the goalkeeper to try and stop him from scoring.
But what is the secret behind Messi's success from set pieces? Well Dr Rajpal Brar has some serious insight into Messi's technique and his totally unique way of striking the ball.
"When Messi strikes the ball, he shifts his hip to the right. He really moves his hips to the right as he's striking to open up his left strike leg," the doctor told the Squawka podcast.
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"And what that does on his plant leg is that it shifts all the weight to the outside of the foot. So then when he follows through and he's striking the ball - that left leg coming from left to right - now everything is going onto the outside of his ankle almost like what happens when you sprain your ankle.
"We call it 'inversion sprain' when it twists inwards - it's that same force. You have all that force on the outside of your ankle and it twists inwards. But in Messi's case, he's trained himself and his body to control that motion."
Just look at where his standing foot is as he hits the ball. If your average Joe tried it then they'd likely be in a lot of agony very quickly but of course average and Lionel Messi do not appear in the same sentence.
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An in-depth report from MARCA detailed how Messi changed his way of hitting a ball in training early on, using plastic dolls as a barrier between him and the goal.
Messi's leg when taking a free-kick has an angle of 50 degrees. He plants almost his entire boot on the ground before hitting the ball, giving him stability and control in the shot.
Then, to improve his accuracy, Messi arches his shoulders and chest to caress the ball, hunching his body into a more compact position.
SPORT asked some experts in the field about his set-piece genius. The Department of Physics at the University of Barcelona said he uses the Magnus Effect to find his consistency from free-kicks.
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This effect is the phenomenon by which the rotation of a body (the ball) generates a force perpendicular to the line of motion, therefore affecting the trajectory.
According to the report, the pressure on the lower surface of the body (the ball) is greater than the pressure on the upper surface, resulting in a force curve trajectory of the body (in this case the ball).
The 32-year-old is able to score free-kicks from a variety of angles and distances and he revealed the trick to being consistent is unpredictability.
"Yes. To be honest, I like to hit the ball over the players' wall but from time to time I like to mix it up a little bit so that the goalkeeper doesn't know where I'm going and I want to keep him confused until I kick," he told ESPN.
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"I think for that reason I like to keep the goalkeeper in doubt."
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, FC Barcelona, Football, Messi, Lionel Messi, Ballon d'Or, free-kicks, La Liga
