Messi leaves Argentina as record holder for free kick goals in NT
Past night, Lionel Messi bade farewell to the Argentina national team, playing his final match against Benin (3-0).
He retired from international football holding the world record for the most goals scored directly from free-kicks for a national team (12).
Messi set the new record just this year at the World Cup. His free-kick goal against Jordan was his 12th. The previous record-holder was the Chilean Jorge Aravena, who had scored 11 goals in this manner. Cristiano Ronaldo later equaled that tally; if he resolves his issues with the coach and returns to the Portugal team, he still has the chance to claim the record for himself.
Here is a ranking of the best free-kick takers in the history of national teams. Remarkably, Aravena scored 50 percent of his international goals just from free kicks (11 out of 22), while Siniša Mihajlović even 90 percent (9 out of 10).
| NATIONAL TEAMS | MOST DIRECT | FREE | KICK GOALS | |
| Player | Team(s) | Goals | NT Career | |
| 1 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 12 | 2005-2026 |
| 2 | Jorge Aravena | Chile | 11 | 1983-1990 |
| 3 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | 11 | 2003- |
| 4 | Siniša Mihajlović | Yugoslavia/Serbia & M | 9 | 1991-2003 |
| 5 | Jair da Rosa Pinto | Brazil | 8 | 1940-1956 |
| 6 | Gheorghe Hagi | Romania | 8 | 1983-2000 |
| 7 | Ronaldinho | Brazil | 8 | 1999-2013 |
| 8 | Andrea Pirlo | Italy | 8 | 2002-2015 |
| 9 | Pelé | Brazil | 7 | 1957-1971 |
| 10 | Michel Platini | France, Kuwait | 7 | 1976-1988 |
| 11 | David Beckham | England | 7 | 1996-2009 |
| 12 | Shunsuke Nakamura | Japan | 7 | 2000-2010 |
| 13 | Luis Suárez | Uruguay | 7 | 2007-2024 |