Regarded as the greatest footballer of all time, the Argentina captain Lionel Messi holds the record for losing most penalties in history. Despite being one of the best penalty takers and goal scorers of all time, Messi tops the list of most missed penalties in football. Penalties play a crucial role in the game as they determine the winner of the game when it ties.
You must have heard a lot of names who are popular for their unprecedented success in scoring penalties which also includes Messi and Ronaldo but on the contrary, there are some prominent names who also lost as many as scored penalties. In this article, we will have a brief look at all of those popular but hidden faces who have registered their name for losing most penalties in Football.
Who is the king of missed penalties?
The undisputed and incredible Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest penalty takers of all time has always been the unique star to break all records. He is considered to be one of the biggest stars of this game. No matter how difficult the situation is, he always manages to stand out and prove that he is the true shooter of his team.
His consistency in recording penalties is another factor that led him to become the highest penalty taker as well as one of the top highest missed penalty players with 29 missed penalties out of 162 attempts. Yet, the king of goalscoring couldn’t make it as the king of missed penalties. Despite of being the world class penalty taker, he is defeated by his major rival Lionel Messi who preceded him by one penalty.
Lionel Messi is the king of Missed penalties as he lost on a total of 30 penalties, more than anyone else. Out of 133 attempts, Messi scored 103 attempts while missing on the rest becoming one of the top missed penalty players in the world. He spent most of his career playing for Barcelona and that’s why he missed all the penalties for the club except for the one he missed with PSG.
Who is the Most penalty missed player?
The Argentinian captain and PSG forward is one of the most prominent global stars in football. The popular captain has missed nine penalties while scoring 33 penalties in compensation over the last five seasons only. Messi just doesn’t have an unprecedented goalscoring rate but also penalty taking rate.
This season, he has scored 8 penalties out of 10 attempts while lost the other 2. Interestingly, the top penalty taker Cristiano Ronaldo also follows him on the list at second place.
Who has missed most penalties in the world?
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are two most common names in the modern era of football. So, the interesting question is who else is on the list of top missed penalty players. Surprisingly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Antonio de Natale and Francesco Totti follow the two greatest legends becoming one of top five in the list.
You must have become familiar with this ultra marvelous footballer with incompatible football skills. The former PSG forward has spent 18 years of his career with Barcelona where he won most of the titles and penalties of his career. In 2021, he moved to Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. The player is widely known for having the better scoring rate than Ronaldo and now he has a larger number of missed penalties as well. He has missed a total of 30 penalties in his career which could be increased as he continues to play for Argentina as the current World Cup champion.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
There’s probably someone on this earth who doesn’t know or has heard Ronaldo’s name. He is the most popular name in football with millions of virtual followers on Instagram only. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo is also known to be the best penalty taker in the history with 162 attempts out of which he scored 143 penalties and missed 29. The Portuguese forward just stayed behind by one point, otherwise he would have been regarded as both the best and worst penalty taker in the world.
Francesco made a total of 95 attempts on receiving penalties out of which he converted 77 free kicks into goals while missing the rest of 18 during his career. He is one of the most successful penalty takers of the 21st century with a prolific career. Totti is an Italy based professional footballer who played only for Roma as well as the Italy National Team. He is often called by different names in Italian language by the Italian sports media. Being the second highest scorer of Roma, the Italian forward has won several titles for Roma including a Serie A title, two Supercopa Italiana titles and two Coppa Italia titles.
4. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Often regarded as one of the most successful and prolific football players, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is ranked fourth on this list of players who have missed most penalties in the 21st century with 17 missed free kicks. It is so brave of him that at the age of 40, he plays with the speed of a teenager. The great Swedish striker is widely regarded to be one of the most prolific attackers of his time. For almost every team he played for, he performed as the first choice penalty taker thanks to his incredible and brilliant football skills. Ibrahimovic missed his last or recent penalty in January 2022 against AS Roma in a 3-1 win.
5. Antonio Di Natale
The Udinese professional footballer Antonio Di Natale has secured the fifth spot in top five in the list of players with most missed penalties in the 21st century. The Udinese legend attempted a total of 55 penalties in his career out of which he converted 41 spot kicks while missing 14. The interesting fact about him being here is that he is still in the top 5 although he retired in 2016. The Italian forward is no less than an all time Champion.
6. Edinson Cavani
Another prolific footballer who made it here as the sixth best player to have missed most penalties. Cavani has had a great impact on the teams he played for including the different clubs and Uruguay. He has proven his worth in all the European leagues he played in including Serie A, Premier League and Ligue 1. And now he is displaying every ounce of his skills left in the Spanish League. The Uruguayan striker is a blessed striker but could not always have the best luck in penalties. As a result, he missed 14 penalties out of 73 pushing himself to become one of the most missed penalty players.
7. Wayne Rooney
With a total of 13 missed penalties, Wayne Rooney has become the seventh Footballer with the most missed penalties although he is extremely good at goalscoring. Rooney is Manchester United’s all-time top goalscorer and also regarded as the greatest English striker after Alan Shearer. The English striker has set many goalscoring records throughout his shining career and despite that he found it quite difficult to score from the spot. Yet, it seems like he was always a little more attentive or cautious when it came to penalties. He attempted a total of 53 penalties out of which 13 came missed.
8. Ronaldinho
It’s no doubt that Ronaldinho is one of those popular names in football who have not just a prolific career but also a wonderful image. In simple words, Ronaldinho has become a household name. He has a special ability which made everyone his fan. He has a strong grip on free kick as well as any other shot including long ranger, and it enables him to score in any situation. His ability to score in even a stressful situation is impeccable. The wonderful and mind-blowing player with enormous penalty records has missed 13 penalties out of 68 that he registered in his entire career.
9. Frank Lampard
Widely regarded as one of the highest goal scoring midfielders of all time, Frank Lampard has Missed the same number of penalties as Ronaldinho and Wayne Rooney (13). His consistency in scoring goals season by season introduced a new direction to his career as well as the other midfielders around the globe. He is not just a prolific goal scorer with invincible scoring ability but also the top penalty taker. It might confuse you a little bit but he failed to convert some of the free kicks he attempted in spite of his unbeatable scoring ability. He missed a total of 13 penalties out of 80 during his career.
10. Sergio Aguero
Surprisingly, Sergio Aguero who is often regarded as Manchester City‘s great iconic legend as well as a prolific striker, failed to convert some of the spot kicks. Despite the fact that he retired last year, Aguero remains one of the greatest legends of the 21st century. For consecutive 10 years, he remained a constant support for Manchester City and backed the club scoring record breaking number of goals. He scored several goalscoring records as well as plenty of titles in the Premier League. Yet, after all his impeccable career accomplishments, he couldn’t maintain his image when it came to scoring from penalties in culmination of which he missed 12 out of 61 career penalties.
