Cristiano Ronaldo scored two free-kicks against Stoke at the weekend, silencing the vile away fans and stopping the home fans from rolling their eyes. Ronaldo has rushed to the ball every time a free-kick has been awarded just outside the penalty area. When in the opening few minutes against Stoke he steadied himself over the ball, I was already anticipating the cheers to come from the away end when he blasted it in to the wall.
However, he didn’t blast it in to the wall. He caught it just right, causing it swerve the ball in the air, leaving Sorensen baffled and red faced when the ball hit the back of the net.
The second free-kick he scored again caught the keeper off guard. He didn’t rely on power or a swerving ball, rather accurately placed it in the bottom corner of the goal.
In between these free-kicks was another which struck Sorensen with force, with him only able to parry it down in to the six yard box. On this occasion, our opposition got away with it, one of their players clearing before one of ours put in the rebound.
Sir Bobby Charlton is impressed, but are you?
“‘Cristiano’s free-kicks hadn’t been going in,” said Charlton. “But thankfully they did last weekend. His rate of scoring is fantastic. He had a great season last time around and is heading for another one.”
Owen Hargreaves has shown he can take a great free-kick, as has Wayne Rooney. Carlos Tevez can take them and Ryan Giggs has been known to score one or two. But do you want Ronaldo to stay as our primary free-kick taker?
