'I practise every training with Ruben. It's nice' - is Milinkovic-Savic the RSL free-kick king? | OneFootball

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic struck another sumptuous free-kick, this time against Al Okhdood on Friday, to help champions Al Hilal to another Roshn Saudi League win.

“I’m practising every day in training,” the Serbian international said. “It’s good, my third this season – it’s nice.”

The regular refining of his dead-ball technique, together with a friendly competition with teammate Ruben Neves, has seemingly helped Milinkovic-Savic master the art.

“We do it together every training, for sure, and then we decide in the game,” he said. “It depends on the moment, who feels better. Today it was me, I score, so it’s nice.”

The goal against Al Okhdood, a beautifully whipped effort from around 25 yards that left goalkeeper Paulo Vitor no chance, sealed Milinkovic-Savic another BSF Goal of the Week, the accolade to go alongside the same award he collected for Matchweek 12 in December.

Back then, in the derby victory at Al Shabab, Milinkovic-Savic displayed a defter touch, almost floating his spinning free-kick into the opposite corner past Abdullah Al Mayouf.

Ally those two goals with his similar conversion in the reverse fixture with Al Okhdood in the opening round of the 2024-25 campaign, and Milinkovic-Savic becomes one of only three players in the past five RSL seasons to net three free-kicks.

The other two just happened to represent the yellow side of Riyadh. Al Nassr captain Cristiano Ronaldo scored his treble during his record-breaking campaign last season – against Damac and Abha (twice in the same game) – while his now-departed former teammate Anderson Talisca notched a trio of free-kicks in the 2021-22 RSL.

Add another, though, and Milinkovic-Savic will stand tall as the most successful set-piece goalscorer of recent seasons. So, given his track record already this term, is the Al Hilal star the current RSL free-kick king?