There are three primary techniques used with direct free kicks. First, the player taking the direct free kick may blast the ball as hard as he can, usually with the laces of the boot. This method is used by Roberto Carlos and Robin Van Persie. Alternatively, some players try to curl the ball around the keeper, with the inside of the boot. Free kick specialists such as Juninho Pernambucano, Ronaldinho and David Beckham employ this method. Curling the ball is a hard skill to learn but when executed, can be the most effective way of scoring in a match. Additionally, certain free kick specialists will choose to kick the ball with minimal spin, making the ball behave unpredictably in the air. Juninho Pernambucano and Cristiano Ronaldo utilize this method regularly. Free kick takers may also attempt to cross the ball to their centre backs or strikers in order to get a header on goal, especially if the position of the free kick is close to the wings.

Source: Wikipedia

They don’t mention ADP in there, but they bloody well should. Since the season started, our beloved captain has scored five goals on set-pieces, and one more beautiful than the next. Such deadly free-kick scoring efficiency has been the trademark of very few players in football history, a rare breed in the lines of Zico, Sinisa Mihaijlovic and Juninho Pernambucano.

So just because I’m such a nice guy, here a 5 x 5 gallery of all those goals: 5 goals, 5 beautiful pictures for each, and nice little video to summarize everything.

Enjoy! :]

.

JUVENTUS VS. ZENIT

.

.

JUVENTUS VS. PALERMO

.

.

JUVENTUS VS. ROMA

.

.

REAL MADRID VS. JUVENTUS

.

.

CHIEVO VS. JUVENTUS

.

.

ALL 5 GOALS COMPILED:

.

.

Through decades of football history, very few people have managed to get the chance to play at a mythical stadium like Santiago Bernabéu. Fewer people have even managed to score at Santiago Bernabéu. And fewer people still, managed to play, score, and receive a standing ovation at Santiago Bernabéu, the stadium where legends are born and home of Real Madrid, the team still holding the record for the most Champions League trophies in history.

After Wednesday night, Alessandro Del Piero is one of those people.

At 34 years of age (his birthday is coming up on Sunday), Pinturicchio travelled to Spain to Madrid, hoping to lead his team to victory and turn the tide of a match which for over 46 years had not seen Juventus come victorious on Royal soil. Hoping that for the first time ever his name would appear next to the goalscoring legends like Puskas, Di Stefano, and Raúl Gonzalez Blanco, those who over the course of history so many times had found the way of the net at Avenida de Concha Espina 1. For Del Piero, reaching those legends would be an impossible feat, but even one goal would have probably been satisfactory for him. Instead, he got two, and Juventus went on to beat the Spanish giants.

Could you ask for a more perfect day?

Full Match Report here.

.
.

Arm your left foot… Goal nº1

.
.
.

.
.
.

Arm your right foot… Goal nº2

.
.
.

.
.
.

IL FENOMENO VERO… E’ ALESSANDRO DEL PIERO…
ALESSANDRO DEL PIERO ALEEEEEEEE

.
.
.

Edit: More ADP videos added:

.

.

Still surfing the wave of their success vs. Los Merengues, Juventus & Alessandro Del Piero can enjoy a few days of happiness before diving into the hard-footy action again. This week-end’s Turin derby promises to be electrifying, but in the meantime I’ve dug up all the things ADP had to say about Wednesday night’s wondergoal.

alessandrodelpiero.com:

UEFA Champions League 2008-09, Stadio Olimpico di Torino
October, 21st 2008
Juventus 2-1 Real Madrid

We are happy and proud about yesterday’s victory, which arrived in a difficult period for us and allows us to take a big step forward in our Champions League group

Our success gives us courage and enthusiasm to take onto our next important and difficuly matches, starting with Juventus vs. Torino on Saturday October 25 at 20:30.

See you soon.

Alessandro

.

Gazzetta:

21 ottobre 2008 – A very tight match to the last minute, hard-fought and painstaking. Del Piero, the man whose first goal levelled the way for the Bianconeri, comments his team’s success against Real Madrid as “a great victory“.

“We hope it’s the first step,” he says to Sky Sports “to make many many more. I am really happy [about my goal], because it allowed us to play a certain type of game in a difficult moment for the team. We were great.”

And now Del Piero will kickstart the celebrations for his son Tobias’s first birthday: “I’m going to celebrate. If he’s sleeping I’ll wake him up” he jokes.

Yeah, I’m sure he won’t mind…

Hello everyone! After an absence of over two months, the Alessandro Del Piero blog on The Offside

returns!

My posting frequency has been terrible at best lately, and that’s inexcusable. I have just been so busy with mCalcio and coordinating my university Intramurals that I’ve never found the time to write a proper

post here.

All that will change in the next few weeks though. While I am still quite occupied with other stuff (unfortunately), I will return to keep you regularly updated on all things ADP. The post lengths will be slightly shorter, but the posting will be more frequent. That way everyone should be satisfied, and hopefully the perfectionist in me will decide kick things up a notch over the long run.

Anyways with that said, let’s turn to the most important topic. Alex. Pinturicchio. Our Capitano. Who scored a gem of a goal against Real Madrid Tuesday night, leading Juventus back to victory after a streak of five consecutive winless matches!! Also, did I mention we were playing REAL MADRID???!!! What better opportunity to jump start this blog once again with a video and a summary of the events, right?
.

.
By the way, doesn’t this goal remind you of that fantastic goal ADP scored against Artmedia Bratislava in August? Very very similar… except this time, ADP’s opponents were none other than those with the most UEFA Champions League trophies in the history of the competition. Ever. That alone, should make Tuesday night’s goal 10 times as good.

.
For a FULL REVIEW of the match, check out the following posts:

• Juventus 2-1 Real Madrid: Del Piero & Amauri Return Juve’s Pride. Wins Too. (mCalcio)
• Juventus 2-1 Real Madrid: A Review in Pictures (Juve Offside)

.

Here’s a photo-sequence of the goal (courtesy of Daylife Photos).

Moving through…

…and unleashing the ADP magic.

Sorry Fabio, damage is done.

The “Michael Jordan” tongue is out…

…followed by..

…the POWER SLIDE!!!

Legrottaglie likey.

Giving props to the fans after the goal…

…and after the game. I feel the love lads, I feel it.

.

Hey lads!

Just dropping by to say hello! I’m still on European vacation technically, and expect to be back to full active duty by the end of the month. However, yesterday something happened that was so grandiose that I just had to post something about it.

THIS happened.

Enjoy, and long live ADP. :]
(Thanks to alessio from the Juve blog for posting the HIGH REZ version)
.

.

.
.
Here’s what Il Capitano had to say after the match (from alessandrodelpiero.com):

August, 13th 2008
Qualifying round UEFA Champions League
Juventus 4-0 Artmedia Bratislava

The victory we otbained, playing the Champions League qualifiers’ first leg against Artmedia Bratislava, was spectacular.

We were really determined to win, and our determination and attention to details allowed us to perform fabulously on the pitch, creating a lot of scoring opportunities and not leaving a lot of space to our opponents.

I’m really happy with the victory and my nice goal.

Now we need another excellent performance on August 26, so that we may finally come back to the Champions League.

See you soon!

Alessandro

.

You can read my full match report of Juventus vs. Artmedia in the following post:
Juventus 4-0 Artmedia: A Walk in the Turin Park… (UEFA Champions League Preliminary Round)

.
.
.

	JUVENTUS-ARTMEDIA 4-0 [Match Highlights]
GOALSCORERS: 7’ Camoranesi (J), 26’ Del Piero (J), 38’ Chiellini (J), 90’ Legrottaglie (J).
JUVENTUS (4-4-2): Buffon – Grygera (15′ Iaquinta), Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Molinaro – Camoranesi, Poulsen, Sissoko, Salihamidzic – Del Piero (72’ Amauri), Trezeguet. (bench: Chimenti, Mellberg, Zebina, Ekdal, Pasquato). Coach: Ranieri.
ARTMEDIA BRATISLAVA (4-4-2): Kamenar – Fodrek, Cisovsky, Salata, Urbanek – Anderson, Kozak, Velicky, Piroska (46’ Obzera) – Pospech (83’ Oravec), Halenar (69’ Glever). (bench: Hyll, Szabo, Hasek, Mraz). Coach: Weiss.

.