Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi climbs the all-time free kick scorers list, closing in on Marcelino Carioca’s world record
After suffering a defeat in their 2026 MLS debut, Inter Miami took on Orlando City in the Florida’s derby, aiming for a commanding victory. In a thrilling comeback, Lionel Messi delivered an outstanding performance by scoring an impressive free-kick goal in the 90th minute to seal the win. With this achievement, the Argentine star reaches new spot in the all-time rankings of top free-kick scorers, bringing him closer to Marcelinho Carioca’s world record.
With his latest goal against Orlando City, Lionel Messi reached 70 free-kick goals throughout his career. After this, he establishes himself as the fourth top scorer on the list, remaining nine goals away from surpassing Marcelinho Carioca, who finished his career with 78 free-kick goals, remaining as the top scorer. Having a contract until 2028, the Argentine appears close to soon surpassing the Brazilian.
Even though he is not considered among the best Brazilian players in history, Marcelinho Carioca managed to establish his name in soccer history until his retirement in 2009. After playing 306 matches, he managed to score 100 goals, providing 69 assists. He may not rank among the greatest scorers in history, but he did establish himself as a difference-maker in free kicks, making Lionel Messi’s nearing of his record an amazing goal.
How does the top 10 all-time free kick scorers list look?
At the beginning of his professional career, Lionel Messi did not stand out in an imposing way as a great free-kick taker. In fact, he scored only four goals of this kind from 2008 to 2011. However, the Argentine became an expert starting in 2012, scoring 7 goals. After scoring 70 goals, he establishes himself as the fourth top scorer of free kicks, maintaining a clear advantage over Cristiano Ronaldo and Diego Maradona. Here is the complete top 10.
| Name | No. Goals | |
| 1. | Marcelinho Carioca | 78 goals |
| 2. | Roberto Dinamite | 75 goals |
| 3. | Juninho Pernambucano | 72 goals |
| 4. | Lionel Messi | 70 goals |
| 5. | Marcos Assunção | 69 goals |
| 6. | Zico | 68 goals |
| 7. | Siniša Mihajlović | 67 goals |
| 8. | Pierre van Hooijdonk | 65 goals |
| 9. | Cristiano Ronaldo | 63 goals |
| 10. | Diego Maradona | 61 goals |
Having Cristiano seven goals behind, the Argentine stands out as the only player capable of surpassing Marcelinho Carioca, as he is the closest active player to this record. In addition, Messi has remained one of the most consistent players in terms of free-kick effectiveness. For that reason, Lionel could set the record, once again leaving his mark on soccer history.
Although Cristiano Ronaldo established himself several years ago as one of the best free-kick scorers in the world, he is coming off a few years without effectiveness in his shots. After scoring three goals in 2024 with Al Nassr, the Portuguese now has gone two years without scoring again in this manner, even though he is usually the team’s taker. This contrasts with Lionel Messi, who is coming off 18 consecutive seasons scoring free kicks.