Manchester United star Juan Mata the Premier League free-kick king since his arrival at Chelsea in 2011
JUAN MATA kicked-off Manchester United's incredible comeback against Newcastle this weekend with a superb free-kick... and that's nothing new.
The Spaniard reduced the deficit at Old Trafford to 2-1 after 70 minutes as he helped ease the pressure on Jose Mourinho a 3-2 comeback win.
But Mata has been doing this for years... and is the most prolific direct free-kick scorer in the Premier League since arriving from Valencia in 2011.
Since arriving at Chelsea seven years ago, Mata has scored eight times from a set-piece - more than any other star in that span.
Gylfi Sigurdsson runs him closest with seven, while Wayne Rooney, Robert Snodgrass and Christian Eriksen all have six.
However, playmaking star Mata still has some way to go to become the all-time free-kick leader in Prem history - currently in 12th.
That honour, of course, goes to David Beckham - who scored an outrageous 18 times from direct set-pieces.
No-one even comes close to United legend Becks, with Thierry Henry and Gianfranco Zola way back on 12.
Laurent Robert, Cristiano Ronaldo and Sebastian Larsson all have 11, while Ian Harte and Morten Gamst Pedersen are the only others to reach double-figures, with ten apiece.
Mata has scored 49 Premier League goals in total from his 226 top-flight games - making the proportion of his goals from free-kicks a sky-high 16 per cent.
