Former England, Manchester United and MLS star David Beckham was one of the best free kick takers of his generation.
That is, until Lionel Messi came around. The two set piece maestros now share a club at Inter Miami, where Beckham is team president and Messi is team captain.
With Anthony Joshua making an appearance at the Fort Lauderdale training ground, Beckham took the opportunity to show that he is still up there with the best.
Anthony Joshua visits Inter Miami to take free kicks with his idol Beckham
The fantastic video footage of Beckham rolling back the years comes courtesy of British heavyweight boxing champ Anthony Joshua. The 33-year-old has been enjoying life at many sports events recently, promoting the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL International Series game in London on Sunday, before showing up in Florida with Inter Miami just a day later.
“Kicking ball with my childhood hero,” Joshua captioned the video with David Beckham. Joshua does not have a lifelong team but has said in interviews that his overall favorite is Real Madrid, Beckham’s old club, because of his adoration of Cristiano Ronaldo, who isn’t too bad at free kicks himself.
Despite Beckham’s legacy, it was the British boxer who impressed most in the video, firing a low shot right into the bottom corner with plenty of pace, while Beckham’s free kick was far from his vintage best.
Who has scored the most free kicks in history: Beckham or Messi?
In fact, Messi’s next free kick will take him past Beckham on the all-time list. His recent free kick goal for Argentina against Ecuador was the 65th of his career, even wiith the Englishman. Just two more would put the Argentine in third place all-time, within distance of Pele but still behind the free kick GOAT Juninho.
Here are the top 6 players with the most free kick goals of all-time:
- Juninho Pernambucano (77)
- Pele (70)
- Ronaldinho (66)
- Victor Legrotaglie (66)
- Lionel Messi (65)
- David Beckham (65)