Key Soccerlytics Insights:
- Ivan Rakitic is one of the best dead-ball passers in Europe this season, having provided his Seviilla teammates with 4 assists via free-kick or corner (29 accurate corners into the box, 12 accurate crosses into the box)
- The 25 year old Croatian international is valued at 15M Euros by tranfermarkt.com and has been linked by various media outlets to Lazio, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool over the past year
- Yaya Toure and Wayne Rooney still have the best free-kick scoring rate (75%) in Europe's top 5 leagues
- Giuseppe Rossi and Cristiano Ronaldo have a 100% record from the spot with 5 out of 5 goals from penalty kicks
- As predicted during last month's update, Steven Gerard has finally scored his first free-kick this season during Liverpool's game against Hull City on December 1st. The Liverpool captain still has the best free-kick shot accuracy in Europe
Dead-ball specialist charts from BSports (Updated through 12/4/2013):
