Real Madrid legend Roberto Carlos claims former Manchester United star David Beckham is one the best free-kick takers in the world he has ever seen.
The ex-England international left Old Trafford and moved to the Spanish capital club in 2003. He played alongside Carlos at Real, who then had a unique way of taking free-kicks. Beckham's free-kicks had mesmerised the world football and is still been looked up by the current crop of players.
Carlos added his former club teammate and current Real manager Zinedine Zidane, Argentine legend Diego Maradona as the two other best free-kick takers in the world.
"At Madrid with Beckham and Zizou, Roni, Ronaldo would also come but he's never scored one goal against me in his life so we got rid of him. The top three are Beckham, Zidane & Diego Maradona," Carlos told Betsafe.
The Brazilian also went on to reveal the secret of behind his free-kick techniques. In addition to this, the former defender admitted that his compatriot Branco was his teacher.
"I didn't study any of them, but I played many years with Branco, and yes I do think Branco was my teacher- he taught me how to position myself, where to put the ball, where to aim for, how to keep the quality in the kick and so that's why I think Branco was my teacher but of course I saw Maradona take free kicks, and Beckham he's phenomenal at free kicks and Zizou with his elegance in taking free kicks," he said.
"The secret is to train. Train everyday, half an hour forty minutes, not too much or your legs will start to feel heavy but you should train to kick the ball in all directions and this requires training every day.
"I think that the strength comes down to your own, what you have to do is train everyday and to make sure you put the ball between the posts, you can kick the ball whichever way you want to but the quality of it is down to you – so train everyday to place the ball in the right place and of course it helps to have a bit of technique.
"I've spent 26 years playing football, 26 years always staying on after training – we would always put the goals up and we would start hitting the ball and before you knew it half an hour, forty minutes would have passed and we would always put a bet on it, it would cost a lot, the loser would by dinner."
Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos and David James were speaking exclusively to Betsafe Star Sixes. For all the odds and betting markets on England vs Brazil, please click here
