Often, all attention fixates on a lone player standing over the ball. Few have mastered this moment — of striking a free kick with perfect execution — like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

For context, Beckham has scored one more free-kick than Ronaldo, although CR7 still has time to tie level with Beckham’s record yet. In the case of Messi, he’s scored 68 free-kicks as of ...