Pirlo was a free-kick[258][269] and penalty-kick specialist.[258][270][271] Throughout his career, he was regarded as one of the best free-kick takers in the world,[258][272] and drew praise from pundits for his versatility, and ability to both score and create chances from dead-ball situations.[248][273][274][275] He was extremely effective at curling shots accurately on target from close range,[269] a technique that he perfected by studying Baggio in training sessions during their time at Brescia together;[269] as a youngster, Zico, Michel Platini, and Diego Maradona were also some of his major influences when taking free kicks.[276][277] Pirlo was also capable of scoring from long-range free kicks with swerve and power, due to his unique technique, which was inspired by Juninho's "knuckle ball" free kicks; this technique was later dubbed the maledetta ("accursed") in the Italian media.[278][279] Pirlo has scored the highest number of free kicks in Serie A, alongside Siniša Mihajlović.[133][280]