LUIS SUAREZ has revealed that practice makes perfect when it comes to taking free-kicks.

The Liverpool striker has been showcasing his proficiency from dead balls this season, and in particular in recent weeks.

Of his 28 goals in all competitions, five have come from direct free-kicks, with three arriving in his last two games.

The Uruguayan had never scored from a set-piece prior to this season, but says hard work on the training ground has been the key to his success.

“I practice,” he said. “Because it’s one skill that at one time I never really mastered and so I worked on it a bit.

“I think it just needed practice and you can also learn from watching players of the class of Steven [Gerrard] and how he strikes the ball, as well as watching players from the past, it all helps.

“The more you practice, you grow in confidence, and it’s also a boost when your teammates encourage you to have the confidence to shoot.”

Suarez also credited manager Brendan Rodgers for his meticulous preparation notes, which have enabled the 26-year-old to research and study goalkeepers’ movements at set pieces.

“The manager is really good at this preparation,” he said. “Before a game he shows the free-kick takers footage on dead-ball situations and that’s also important.

“Every player has his own particular skill and technique when taking a free-kick. But sometimes the free-kick might be from a different position, or you might have to study the keeper’s technique when making a save, the position of the wall, whether they jump in the wall, if the defenders are tall and if you can get the ball up and over them.”

Suarez’s form – which has made him the Premier League’s leading marksman – means he is now first in line whenever a shooting opportunity arises at a free-kick. Not that Steven Gerrard, traditionally the Reds’ go-to man, is too concerned.

“I think Steven has been taking the free-kicks for a good while now but I think he realises that there are now one or two team-mates who are up for taking them, myself included,” said Suarez.

“There are some other top players who can also take them, but at that moment in the game you are anxious to take the kick yourself and as I said before, the support of your team-mates gives you that extra confidence.”

v Manchester City (home) Premier League August 26 2012

Anfield had been silenced when Yaya Toure’s strike cancelled out Martin Skrtel’s first-half header, but they would be reawoken just three minutes later. Jack Rodwell was penalised for handball, and Suarez stepped up to bend a sublime free-kick low around the City wall, and inside Joe Hart’s near post, from fully 30 yards.

v Udinese (home) Europa League October 4 2012

A losing cause, but Anfield at least had something special from Suarez to remember the evening by. The Uruguayan had begun the night on the bench, but as the Italians seized control with three goals early in the second half, he was summoned into action. He responded with a perfectly flighted free-kick, over the wall, into the Kop End net.

v Zenit St Petersburg (home) Europa League February 21 2013

With Anfield reeling from Hulk’s crucial away goal, it was left to Suarez to rally his team. And having been chopped on the edge of the area, he did just that. Zenit’s wall may have crumbled poorly, but Suarez found the gap, and drove the ball low past a flat-footed Vyacheslav Malafeev (main picture, above)

v Zenit St Petersburg (home) Europa League February 21 2013

And he wasn’t finished there. With Liverpool chasing two goals to secure a last 16 place, Suarez (right) produced a strike from the top drawer, whipped viciously inside Malafeev’s top left-hand corner from 25 yards to give the Reds hope.

v Wigan Athletic (away) Premier League March 2 2013

A walk in the park in Lancashire, as Suarez left the DW Stadium with another match ball for his collection. His second strike (right) owed much to a deflection off Wigan’s Shaun Maloney, of course, as well as to the sluggish reactions of Ali Al-Habsi in goal, as the ball squirmed between goalkeeper and post.

LIVERPOOL’S FREE-KICK SPECIALISTS

STEVEN GERRARD

Gerrard’s free-kick CV includes vital Merseyside derby strikes, Old Trafford efforts, a screamer at Villa Park and a howitzer up at Newcastle.

DANNY MURPHY

Few Reds have had the ability to bend the ball with such precision. His most notable free-kick in December 2000, ended a decade-long wait for a win at Old Trafford.

GARY MCALLISTER

Scorer of perhaps the most famous Liverpool free-kick in modern times, McAllister’s 45-yard effort in the dying seconds of a Goodison derby caught Paul Gerrard off guard and nestled in the corner of the Park End net.

JOHN BARNES

Barnes’ most memorable Liverpool free-kick, arguably, never even went in. His effort in the 1992 FA Cup semi-final against Portsmouth was followed in by Ronnie Whelan to spare the Reds’ blushes.

JIMMY CASE (left)

Finesse? Nah. Case’s right foot was a hammer. One effort from the 1978 European Cup final sticks in the memory. It would still be travelling now had Bruges ‘keeper Birger Jensen not bravely (stupidly?) put his fists in the way.