Seriously Sport: How top-spin makes Kevin De Bruyne’s free-kick top-class

A well-struck free kick goal is undoubtedly one of the most universally celebrated actions that can take place on a football pitch. The precision, power, and placement required to convert one make it one of the hardest things to achieve in the sport. And that is exactly what makes Kevin De Bruyne’s match-winning strike in Manchester City’s 1-0 win against Leicester City on Saturday so special.
Despite Pep Guardiola’s side’s dominance on the ball at the King Power Stadium, the game remained at a 0-0 stalemate in the first half. After Nampalys Mendy conceded a cheap foul 25 yards out at the start of the second, the Belgian stepped up, took a minute to compose himself, and cannoned his strike into the top left corner.
De Bruyne explains which part of the foot he strikes the ball with (YouTube/F2Freestylers).
It was a moment of genius that perfectly encapsulated the midfielder’s well-honed technical ability. De Bruyne struck the ball with the inside of his right foot, got the ball up and over the wall with power, and saw it nip back under the bar, hitting the post to the keeper’s right before nestling into the opposite corner.

TEXTBOOK KDB 🔥
🔵 #ManCity pic.twitter.com/LrUKbdjAG8
— Manchester City (@ManCity) June 26, 2020
The Manchester City bench erupted in applause, the Leicester defence walked to the halfway line helpless, and Guardiola leapt out of his chair and broke into a rare smile. James Maddison, lying on the ground behind the wall to prevent the ball to sneak underneath it, later said it was “a moment of brilliance from probably the best player in the Premier League” that lost his side a closely-fought game.
De Bruyne explains which part of the ball he strikes to get it to dip (YouTube/F2Freestylers).
De Bruyne’s ability on the moving ball is lauded for many reasons: his touch, weight of pass, vision, and crosses, all of which allow him to get plenty of asss, as well as switch up play from deep into his own half. His ability on a dead ball, similarly, shows his mastery of the top spin technique.

Horically, the best free kick takers are usually born out of their ability to hit the ball with top spin, so the power and height can clear the wall, but the ball dips under the post to go on target. Usually, players hitting the ball with top spin go for the ‘knuckleball’ – a technique of striking the ball with the inside of their foot, which makes it go high up and swerve in the air before dipping – to score from long range. But De Bruyne’s technique, which he revealed in a 2017 video appearance on YouTube channel F2Freestylers, is more useful from short range.

The best free-kick ever scored a City player? 🤔@KevinDeBruyne‘s sublime free-kick against Leicester 👇 pic.twitter.com/C4da0tdlCb
— Manchester City (@ManCity) October 29, 2022
Instead of wrapping his foot around the ball to curl it away from the keeper, even from a short dance, De Bruyne, approaches the ball with a straight runup and hits it with topspin, making it dip thanks to the position at which he strikes the ball – slightly above the centre. It is a variation of a technique he picked up from David Luiz – known to score his fair share of screamers – while the duo were together at Chelsea.
He lets the fluidity of his movement generate the power for him. “It (the top spin) is very dangerous,” he told the F2. “It is very difficult for the keeper to see the ball and when it dips, it comes down so fast, so he needs to be there and (adjust) quickly.”
Despite the effectiveness of this technique though, De Bruyne’s stats from free kicks do not necessarily pop out. Now in his eighth season at City, the goal against Leicester was just his eighth from a direct free kick in all competitions. His conversion rate, however, shows he is there and thereabouts with the elite.
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According to fbref.com, De Bruyne has taken a total of 65 direct shots from free kicks since 2017-18, and scored 5, putting his conversion rate just under 8%. In the same time period, Lionel Messi has scored a whopping 22 free kicks, but out of 240 attempts, putting his conversion rate just over 9%.
The Premier League’s best free kick taker, Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse, has scored 12 in that time in 83 direct attempts at a conversion rate at over 14%, nearly double of the Belgian.

So, De Bruyne’s free kick numbers may not be the best in volume, but his dangerous technique makes him a constant threat from the dead ball, and make each of his goals stunning. His strike against Leicester on Saturday may well have been the best of the lot.