Roma midfielder Miralem Pjanic discusses his free-kick prowess – “it took more than 10 years to learn.”
The Bosnian has scored six goals for the Giallorossi this season, four of them free-kicks, and he spoke to Dnevni avaz about his set piece prowess.
“There’s no secret recipe for the perfect free-kick,” Panic explained.
“The answer is simple, it’s all about training. I’ve kicked tens of thousands of free-kicks from all different positions. It took more than 10 years to learn.
Roma midfielder Miralem Pjanic discusses his free-kick prowess – “it took more than 10 years to learn.”
The Bosnian has scored six goals for the Giallorossi this season, four of them free-kicks, and he spoke to Dnevni avaz about his set piece prowess.
“There’s no secret recipe for the perfect free-kick,” Panic explained.
“The answer is simple, it’s all about training. I’ve kicked tens of thousands of free-kicks from all different positions. It took more than 10 years to learn.
“While the wall is forming, I look at the goal and decide the easiest point to put it in the goal. When the referee blows his whistle, I already know the run-up I’ll take to send the ball into the net.
“Of course, I can’t always predict it, sometimes I hit the wall, other times it goes wide or high.
“The most suitable distance is about 25 metres from the goal, whether the position is left, right or centre.
“My favourite? Maybe the one against Lazio [in 2012]. I think that was from the greatest distance of the ones I’ve scored, it must have been more than 40 metres.
“I saw the goalkeeper out the corner of my eye, even though it was a considerable distance. Then I just focused and hit the ball. Unfortunately that goal became less important because we lost the game.
“Leverkusen? That was a special goal, I scored it just as my family were mourning the death of a beloved grandmother. We really wanted to win at any cost.
“I scored, but in the end we couldn’t win. I dedicated it to my grandmother though.”
Pjanic spent time in Ligue 1 with Lyon, alongside Juninho Pernambucano often considered the best free-kick taker of all time.
“It’s often pointed out that I learned how to take free-kicks from him. The truth is that he was a maestro, but I’ve developed my own style, just as [Andrea] Pirlo and [Cristiano] Ronaldo have their own style.
"Each of us shoots differently from the other, we each have our own style of striking the ball.”
The 25-year-old has been linked with a move away from the Giallorossi, but insists he’s not letting speculation affect him.
“My thoughts are only focused on Roma,” Pjanic assured.
“I want to play well for my club, and contribute to doing as well as possible in Serie A and the Champions League.”