Although football fans will no doubt wish for their side to win games with a sleek passing style of play, most will be happy with a result by any means possible. At the end of the day, a scrappy strike from a corner is worth the same as a long-range screamer.
The 2025/26 season has seen teams, particularly in the Premier League, become more reliant on set-piece situations as a means to an end. Taking inspiration from Tony Pulis' famous Stoke City side, long throw-ins and free-kick routines are back in fashion, with Arsenal leading the way for dead ball goals thus far.
But, as the Gunners are hoping for both domestic and continental success, is the same true in the Champions League? WhoScored have compiled a complete list of goal situations scored by every side in Europe's premier competition, giving an indication of which teams are the masterminds from corners, free-kicks and long throws alike.
In cases of a tie, places are decided by total goals scored.
Champions League Teams Ranked by Set-Piece Goals: 36-28
Real Madrid CF’s Jude Bellingham playing against Real Betis
Four teams are without a set-piece goal in the Champions League thus far and for two teams, it will remain that way. Both Eintracht Frankfurt and Marseille crashed out of the tournament as the league phase concluded, but there's still hope for Galatasaray and Real Madrid, who made it into the play-offs. In the case of Los Blancos, they're fourth for total goals, but surprisingly, haven't had much luck from any dead ball scenarios.
Villarreal and Slavia Prague are both tied for total goals and set-piece strikes, and that lack of cutting edge from corners and free-kicks arguably cost them as they finished 35th and 34th respectively. Even bottom-placed Kairat, who only managed a draw and seven losses in the competition, managed more total goals while being equally effective from set-pieces.
Completing the bottom two here, to nobody's surprise, are two teams who were also eliminated from the competition last month. Ajax and Athletic Club both struggled in Europe, but will now at least be able to concentrate on their domestic fortunes as the season reaches its crunch stage.
2025/26 Champions League Teams Ranked by Set-Piece Goals (36-27)
Rank
36
35
34
33
=31
=31
30
29
28
Champions League Teams Ranked by Set-Piece Goals: 27-19
Manchester City's Erling Haaland warms up to face Chelsea
Moving into the mid-table section of the list, four other teams also sitting on one goal have had better fortunes from open play. While FC Copenhagen were eliminated, all of Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City managed to secure places in the knockout rounds despite their ineffectiveness from dead balls. In the latter's case, Pep Guardiola's side managed a total of 15 strikes as they finished in the top eight, which handed them a difficult potential round of 16 clash.
Monaco rank among the lowest scorers in the competition so far, but still managed to scrap into the play-offs by a solitary point. So too did Olympiacos, Bodo/Glimt and Juventus, but PSV Eindhoven will likely feel hard done by.
The Eredivisie outfit, despite scoring more goals in total and the same number of set-piece efforts, could only finish 16th in the league. The big reason for that was their leaky defence, as PSV shipped as many goals as they scored in Europe.
2025/26 Champions League Teams Ranked by Set-Piece Goals (27-19)
Rank
27
26
25
24
23
22
=20
=20
19
Champions League Teams Ranked by Set-Piece Goals: 18-10
joao pedro
Newcastle, Sporting and Barcelona have all managed to qualify for the next stage of the competition, but it's Eddie Howe's side who were unlucky to miss out on a spot in the top eight. Finishing just two points shy of Manchester City, they trail behind Barcelona for total goals, as do their Portuguese counterparts, although each of them has managed two strikes from dead ball situations.
A quartet of teams have managed a hat-trick of set-piece goals, though. Benfica were indebted to goalkeeper Anatoly Trubin for one of the efforts registered, as he powered in a header in stoppage time against Real Madrid to secure the final play-off spot.
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Each of Qarabag, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain have managed to secure a place in the knockouts with three goals from corners and free-kicks. But only the Blues managed a top eight finish to reach the round of 16, despite them trailing behind their French counterparts for total efforts.
Union St.Gilloise, incredibly, managed to score 50% of their goals from set-piece scenarios in the league phase, but that wasn't enough to prevent their elimination. Even more impressively, though, they aren't the team with the highest percentage on this list.
2025/26 Champions League Teams Ranked by Set-Piece Goals (18-11)
Rank
=17
=17
16
15
14
13
12
11
Champions League Teams Ranked by Set-Piece Goals: 9-1
virgil van dijk
Kicking off the top 10 are two teams tied for total and set-piece goals. Club Brugge and Inter both sit in the middle of the pack with 15 strikes, but the ability of their squads to make the most from corners and free-kicks could pay dividends in the knockout stages.
Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, are often considered a no-nonsense team under Diego Simeone, but sit joint seventh in this list alongside Tottenham. The north Londoners are not back in European action until the round of 16, but will have to navigate a potentially difficult tie under new manager, Igor Tudor.
There's little to separate Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, two Bundesliga sides who are usually the main competitors for the Meisterschale. But only the latter is considered a real contender for European crown this season, having managed a second-place finish in the league phase.
Impressively, the top four starts with two teams who both scored more than 50% of their goals from set-pieces. Napoli and Pafos both highlighted that their biggest strength came from corners and free-kicks, and perhaps they should have leaned on that more, as both teams failed to qualify for the next round.
While Arsenal might be the set-piece kings of England, that's not the case in Europe. Their total of five is dwarfed by Liverpool, who have managed as many set-piece goals in the Champions League over eight games as they've managed in the Premier League over 26! Arne Slot could look to make the most of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate's aerial abilities as he bids to win a seventh European crown for the Merseysiders.
2025/26 Champions League Teams Ranked by Set-Piece Goals (9-1)
Rank
=9
=9
=7
=7
6
5
4
3
2
1
All statistics courtesy of WhoScored - Correct as of 17/02/2026