In numbers: Real Madrid’s direct free-kick struggles since Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure | OneFootball

It has been more than seven years since Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid, bidding goodbye in 2018 as the highest goalscorer in the history of the club.

While his exit was always going to be a blow, Los Blancos found ways to continue winning and boosting their trophy haul in the years that followed.

However, during this years, Real Madrid have failed to find a player who could take on the mantle of scoring direct free-kick goals for the team as proficiently as Ronaldo did.

Numbers tell the story

Indeed, as highlighted by MARCA, Real Madrid miss Cristiano in terms of the execution of direct free kicks, an area in which the production of the club’s players has fallen sharply since the Portuguese star left the Santiago Bernabeu in 2018.

The average across Cristiano’s nine seasons at the club was 6.1 free-kick goals per season. After his departure, that figure has dropped to just 1.6.

During his time in Spain, the Portuguese maverick scored 33 direct free kicks for Real Madrid, more than any other player in the club’s history. Very few players at the club have come close to matching him in that category.

Indeed, since 2009, the year he joined the Madrid club, nobody has approached his tally of free-kick goals.

The next on the list is Gareth Bale, with four. Mesut Ozil and James Rodríguez scored three, while several players scored two, including four players from the current squad: Kylian Mbappe, Federico Valverde, David Alaba and Rodrygo.

Valverde’s goal vs Atletico in January is Madrid’s only direct free-kick scored this season. (Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)

It must be taken into consideration that Cristiano took almost every free kick while he was a part of the team, both those in good positions and those that were less favourable, and also that Real Madrid have attempted far fewer since his departure.

His best season, in terms of most free-kicks scored, was his first in Spain, 2009/10, with six goals from 45 attempts. In 2011/12, he managed to score four from 72 attemtps.

Not enough quality

Since Cristiano left, the club’s free-kick output has dropped dramatically: zero goals in 2023/24, and three seasons with just one goal, in 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22.

Real Madrid have gone from having a great free-kick specialist in Cristiano and several solid alternatives, such as Bale, Ozil, James and even Sergio Ramos, to a situation that resembles a vacuum of authority.

Last season the total rose to four, but this season the tally stands at a single goal, scored by Valverde against Atletico Madrid in the semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup.

The Uruguayan’s strike has so far been the only successful effort from 22 attempts by Real Madrid players this term, with Mbappe recording the highest number of shots, seven.

Valverde, Mbappe, Rodrygo and Alaba are the only players in the current squad who have scored directly from a free kick. The team have also lost other more or less reliable options, such as Isco, Marco Asensio, Toni Kroos and Karim Benzema.

It is clear that this is an area that the team needs to work on and improve upon, with Arda Guler, for one, being seen as a solution to Real Madrid’s free-kick woes.