Juninho: Pjanic is the best in the world

Pjanic, who has already scored four free-kicks for Roma this season, was a former team-mate of Juninho at Lyon before the Brazilian international moved to Al-Gharafa in Qatar and later the MLS.

"Mire has incredible quality,” Juninho, capped 40 times by Brazil and widely considered to be the greatest set-piece specialist of all time, told L'Equipe. “He's maybe the best free-kick taker in the world today… no I'm sure of it - he is the best.

“He's very efficient and, above all, consistent. That's the most difficult part. He has a lot of variation in his strikes. He's able to shoot in different ways depending on the distance."

"I said to him at the time that repetition of the action was the most important thing in order to become a great free-kick taker. It's tiring but it's really the most important part."

- Juninho

"Mire was always interested in my shooting technique on free-kicks," the Brazilian said. “Unfortunately we didn't rub shoulders with each other for very long because I left one year after he arrived from Metz in 2008.

"He always stayed with me after training for free-kick practice. We discussed things a lot."

And the most important message he left with Pjanic? Hard work and practice.

"I imagine he's working a huge amount. I said to him at the time that repetition of the action was the most important thing in order to become a great free-kick taker. It's tiring but it's really the most important part."