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Cristiano Ronaldo has influenced countless footballers’ styles of play, but one Bristol City star has credited him with helping him become the English Football League’s specialist in one key area.
The Portugal captain has crafted his dead ball techniques, with him scoring a whopping 64 free-kick goals throughout his career.
The EFL is littered with excellent free-kick takers, with former Southampton player James Ward-Prowse becoming renowned for his during his rise at St Mary’s.
Now, Bristol City have produced a Championship free-kick expert, and he’s pinpointed exactly which free-kick of Ronaldo’s that inspired him to want to become the best of the best at them. City may well receive one of their biggest transfer fees ever in the future if he carries on.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick against Spain influenced Scott Twine’s technique
Robins ace Scott Twine has previously credited watching Ronaldo with helping him to create his own free-kick technique. He has already bagged one this season, netting against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane in his side’s 4-1 victory.
Speaking ahead of his side’s clash against winless Derby County this weekend, Twine pointed to Ronaldo’s free-kick against Spain in the 2018 World Cup in Russia as being the set piece that captured his imagination.
Asked if any player in particular inspired his free-kicks, Twine told Sky Sports: “The one free-kick that stood out for me was Ronaldo’s free-kick against Spain in the World Cup where he scored the hattrick.
“He took it slightly differently to how he does normally and I just practiced that for a long, long time and adjusted it slightly to suit me. That’s where I got it from.”
The ex-Manchester United forward had unexpectedly sneaked the ball over the wall to the right of the goal and into the top-hand corner, leaving goalkeeper David de Gea stunned and glued to the spot. It marked Ronaldo’s hattrick goal in his country’s comeback, with the match ending 3-3.
Scott Twine is the leading free-kick scorer in the English Football League
After the former Burnley star’s free-kick against Bristol City, Twine has now netted 26 goals from outside the box in the past five seasons. 16 of those have been free-kicks.
His set-piece prowess began when Twine scored 20 goals and provided 13 assists – six of the latter being from a stationary position – in 48 appearances for then-League One MK Dons, earning him a move to Burnley in 2022.
He only played 17 times for the Clarets in the end, but two of his three goals for them came from free-kicks.
In January, Twine had the best record of any player across the top four tiers of English football since 2019/20 according to Opta, with 15 direct free-kick goals from 118 free-kick shots having a conversion rate of 12.7%.
His goal against the Blades marked his 17th goal direct from a free-kick in English football, extending his lead at the top of the leaderboard.