There are hardly any goals from direct free kicks anymore, and it's not the pitchers' fault

April 17 was a very rare day in the last League.

At the Metropolitano, at a quarter to six in the afternoon, Raúl de Tomás scored a goal against Atlético from a direct free kick in which Oblak missed.

Less than four hours later, at the Sánchez Pizjuán, Madrid's barrier opened, and Rakitic also beat Courtois with a direct shot.

The concentration was unusual: it had been two months since anyone scored like that in a championship that only registered nine goals from direct free kicks at the end of the course.

That afternoon two met in four hours.

The case of Spain was especially extreme last season: it was the league with the fewest goals from direct free kicks of the five big ones in Europe.

And by far: one every four days, while in England, Italy, Germany and France they saw one every two dates.

The League has registered the worst drought in Europe, but the drop in the number of goals from direct free kicks has been generalized at least in the last 16 seasons, which are the ones that Opta, a football data analysis company, keeps records of.

In 2006/07, 145 goals were scored from direct kicks in the five major leagues.

In the one that just ended, 2021/22, only 87, which represents a difference of 40%.

And the previous course had been even more squalid, with 78. What happened?

A few months ago, Milinko Pantic, a formidable specialist who was fundamental to Atlético's double in the 1995/96 season, lamented in EL PAÍS the neglect of this discipline: "This type of specialist is no longer valued," he said.

“Throws are not rehearsed as much as before.

Just five or six shots at the end of the sessions.

I stayed an hour."

Marcos Assunçao, another mythical sniper, complained about the same thing: “There are hardly any free-kick shooters left”.

However, the data suggests it's not the pitchers' fault.

They have not gotten worse.

In the last 16 seasons they have maintained a very stable level of accuracy, which has moved between 4.5% and 6.5%.

There is no identifiable pattern, neither up nor down.

When studying thousands of games, with dozens of pitchers, the most remarkable thing is stability.

What's more: it can be said that specialists have not only not gotten worse, but that they have more and more expertise.

During this time, the average height of the players (half a centimeter in the League) has increased a little, and therefore of the barriers, which at the same time have undergone strategic evolutions with imaginative and disconcerting formations for the pitchers.

But above all the goalkeepers have grown, three centimeters: their average height has gone from 185.6 cm to 188.5.

In addition, they have sharpened their technique.

Shooters have encountered more difficulties these years and despite this they have maintained success.

But they have tried far less often.

Over the past 16 seasons, the number of free throws in the big five leagues has steadily fallen by half, from 3,210 in 2006/07 to 1,613 in 2021/22.

In Spain the drop has been even greater: it has gone from 771 attempts to 321.

In reality, the blame for the progressive shortage of goals from direct free kicks lies more with the referees and defenders, who are finer in their attacks.

In Europe far fewer fouls are called now than 16 years ago, about a third less.

In Spain, for example, it has gone from 14,142 to 10,061, according to Opta.

The magnitude of the drop has surprised even a former referee with decades of experience like Alberto Undiano Mallenco, who was active in the First Division between 2000 and 2019. For him, this notable drop is not accidental: “Refereeing has been very pending in recent years of the really dangerous plays.

It was strict, and now you can see the result, for example with fewer fractures of the nose and cheekbones.

Players jump more cleanly than in the past,” he says.

The persecution of savagery has narrowed the terrain of the violent, but the referees have also changed, according to Undiano: “You can say that the referee is now more of a football fan.

He studies the teams more, he has more tools to prepare… The referee is now less of a python, he understands more the essence of football, when to let the game continue, when to stop”.

The decrease in the number of fouls is general, but it is registered in a particular way in the area of ​​the field that makes the shooters salivate, and for that Undiano also has an explanation: “With fouls on the edge of the area, we say the same thing that we say about the penalties.

There is the same instruction as for fouls within the area, we give them the same entity as the penalty.

We ask the referees to be very sure that the contact is enough.

We strongly encourage them to think of fouls close to the box as almost inside the box.

We understand that if [the free kick] is scarce and ends in a goal, we are going to be criticized”.

However, the real danger is not even close.

Penalties are scored 76% of the time, while in the best years direct fouls are 12 times less successful.

So it can be said that an irrational fear has contributed decisively to the fact that fewer and fewer direct kick goals are seen.

The nine free-kick goals in the 2021-2022 League

On matchday one, Oyarzábal scored the first direct free kick goal in the League for Real Sociedad.

On September 29, Íñigo Pérez, Osasuna's midfielder, scored from almost 30 meters from Greif's goal.

On October 24 at the Metropolitano, Isak scored the second goal for Real Sociedad that Oblak failed to stop.

In the 95th minute of the Basque derby, Iker Muniain took a free kick from the left corner of the area that gave Athletic the tie.

Already in 2022, Fekir, from the edge of the area, scored the fourth goal for the Verdiblancos against Levante.

A couple of weeks later, Betis scored again from a direct free kick.

This time in a centered shot by Sergio Canales.

On matchday 32, Raúl de Tomás scored the closest free-kick goal in the League at less than 20 m.

On the same day (April 17) Sevilla player Ivan Rakitic scored the first Sevilla-Real Madrid goal that the white team would end up winning.

The last free-kick goal in the League was by Lucas Pérez, from Cádiz, on matchday 34, 27.5 m from the Sevilla goal.

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