James Maddison scored a brilliant free-kick against Aston Villa (Image: Getty)
James Maddison imitates David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo to become Tottenham's set-piece master.
The England international capped Spurs' impressive 4-1 win over Aston Villa with a magnificent free-kick that had a touch of Beckham magic.
Despite being absent for 82 minutes on Sunday, the Spurs midfielder made his mark by delivering a flawless masterpiece past immovable World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emi Martinez.
Maddison revealed: “I used to watch Becks closely. I think last season was the first year in my whole career where I didn't score a direct free kick.
“I scored quite a few, I think, maybe 15-16 direct free kicks, so it bothered me last year that I didn't get one.
“I know I can be dangerous from them, but I probably haven't shown that to the Spurs fans yet.
“To be honest, I don't feel like we've had that many good opportunities for some reason – we don't seem to get direct free kicks in good positions. We just haven't had as many good positions for frees – kicks and penalties too.
“But it was a good position (against Villa) and I managed to hold it.
“How much practice does this execution take? About 25 years probably! I love free kicks, and I always did it because I loved Becks and was a Manchester United fan when I was young.
“Becks then Cristiano Ronaldo, they were both very good on free kicks even though they used different techniques.
James Maddison curled in a free kick late in the match (Image: Getty)
“I used to idolize people who were good at free kicks. I was always in the garden practicing. I mastered my own technique over the years and scored quite a few , not bad in the Premier League, I hope to have a few more.
Maddison's free-kick against Villa fooled Martinez, who was recently named the world's best goalkeeper for the second year at the Ballon d'Or, but got stuck in his tracks here.
The Tottenham star laughed: “Yeah, it was nice, wasn't it? It can be difficult sometimes, the closest ones who are just on the edge of the box.
“You don't have as much time to go up and down, that's why I took it a little faster. As soon as the whistle blew, I was already leaning on it, trying to catch up with Martinez a little , because he is a good goalkeeper, fortunately he entered the higher category.”
James Maddison celebrates scoring 4-1 against Tottenham against Aston Villa (Image: Getty)
Spurs' ninth win in 11 matches in all competitions pushed them back to the periphery of the top four after Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and of course Villa all slipped up this weekend.
Their second-half performance on Sunday was too much for Villa to handle and Maddison added: “We turned the screw and they couldn't live with our intensity.
“But that’s why the coach remained so calm at halftime, because he knows we have the ability to explode teams in quick periods.
“Even at 1-0, he says, 'Raise your head.' We know we can score four goals in a half against any team because that's what we do with our intensity. Fortunately, that's exactly what we did. And we blew them away.
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1971249/Tottenham-James-Maddison-Man-Utd