Penalties – those dastardly things that heap enormous amounts of pressure on strikers everywhere. The moment the referee blows his whistle and points to the spot, everyone assumes that the team’s that got the penalty will score - and invariably they do. But quite often the pressure can get to the kicker and they can miss the target altogether, or draw an excellent save from the likes of penalty stopping specialist Diego Alves.
Drawing from Atletico’s recent woes from the spot – Fernando Torres just missed one yesterday... after scoring an absolute stunner, at that – we have compiled a list of a dozen players with the highest penalty miss % in La Liga. We have taken a minimum of 15 attempts as minimum requirement to enter the list
12. Cristiano Ronaldo – Real Madrid (13.8%)
For the sheer number of penalties the man takes, his consistency is rather remarkable – his tally stands at 9 missed in 65
11. Lionel Messi – Barcelona (16.0%)
Not known to be a great penalty taker, the Argentine magician is not too shabby either with 8 missed in 50
10. Lyuboslav Penev – Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Celta Vigo (17.3%)
Our first, but not last mention of Atletico Madrid is with the Bulgarian striker who was usually clinically from inside the box. From the spot, however, he has missed 9 in 52
9. Hugo Sanchez – Real Madrid (21.1%)
The Mexican predator rarely missed from open play. From the penalty spot, however, it was a different ball game – his tally stands at 15 missed in 71
8. Dani – Atheltic Bilbao (22.72%)
The Basque tasked with the penalty-taking duties for his legendary club back in the day has missed 10 in 44
7. Roberto López Ufarte – Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid (25.7%)
The little devil was a great striker for both his major clubs, but he did miss 9 in 35 spot-kicks
6. Raul Tamudo – Espanyol, Real Sociedad, Rayo Vallecano (28.6%)
The Catalan is a legend at Espanyol, but he's missed 12 in 42
5. Juan Antonio Señor – Real Zaragoza (29.4%)
A central midfielder who bossed the Zaragoza midfield for nearly a decade, he was also their designated spot-kick taker – but he did miss 10 out of 34
4. Enrique Castro González a.k.a. Quini – Sporting de Gijon and FC Barcelona (30.2%)
The Spanish super-striker 13 missed in 43. Read more about the enigmatic striker here – How the kidnapping of one of Spain's greatest ever strikers cost Barcelona the league title in 1981
3. Fernando Torres – Atletico Madrid (32.1%)
The Spanish phenomenon has missed 9 in 28. Why does El Nino take spot kicks anymore? Probably ‘cos everyone else keeps missing them too eh Cholo?
2. Samuel Eto’o – Mallorca, Barcelona (27%) (he didn’t take a pen in his 3 appearances for Real Madrid, so)
The Cameroonian may have been lethal from open play, but surprisingly his spot-kick record was less than top notch.He’s missed 1/3rd of his 27 kicks. 9, that is.
1. Juan Carlos Aguilera – Atletico Madrid, Tenerife (42.1%)
The Spaniard who started life as a right winger and then migrated to right back missed 8 of the 19 penalties he attempted. They never were very good with penalties, these Atletico guys, were they?
All stats courtesy Marca.com
