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When Lionel Messi stepped up to the spot on Saturday, there were already murmurs about the Argentine’s rather mediocre penalty record. Those murmurs turned into screams when Messi struck a meek penalty which was easily saved by Iceland goalkeeper (and film director) Hannes Thor Halldorsson.
Immediately after the missed shot, the internet was awash with Messi’s penalty statistics especially in comparison to a certain Portuguese forward. Apart from the usual Messi-Ronaldo debates, penalties have become a vital part of this World Cup.
Already by Tuesday, eight penalties have been awarded- a number that will likely be obsolete by the time this article is published. In fact, the current penalties-per-game rate is 0.57% which is the highest of any World Cup.
Penalties will become even more important as we get to the knockout stages when shootouts will start to occur. Thus, it is pertinent to look at the best penalty takers in the World Cup. To do this, I decided to rank every World Cup player who took more than ten penalties in the last five years in the top five European leagues.
19 players qualified on this basis and then they were ranked based on the percentage of penalties they had scored (data was extracted from transfermarkt.com which excludes shootouts).
#19 Gonzalo Higuaín (73.07%)
While Messi’s penalty record has been scrutinized endlessly, he isn’t the worst regular penalty taker on his team. Gonzalo Higuaín has always struggled from the spot throughout his career.
The Argentine striker was originally the designated penalty taker for Real Madrid in the 2008-09 season, before Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival. After the Portuguese’s arrival, Higuaín would not take another penalty until a move to Napoli.
Higuaín really struggled in the 2014-15 season, when he only managed to make five out of nine penalties. That summer, Higuaín missed what was arguably the most important penalty of his career in the Copa America final against Chile as the Albiceleste lost another tournament final.
The Juventus striker also missed a vital penalty against Tottenham in the Champions League Round of 16. An excellent striker, Higuaín is often unfairly criticized for his misses in tournament finals for Argentina. Yet if there is one place where the contempt for Higuaín is justified, it is at the penalty spot.
#18 Diego Costa (73.68%)
Amidst all the hoopla surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo’s hattrick, one thing that was slightly forgotten was Diego Costa’s amazing performance against Portugal. The Atletico Madrid striker was a nuisance for the Portuguese defence as he provided a physical dimension to Spain’s usually pass-heavy attack.
After having struggled in the 2014 World Cup, Costa’s performance was a relief to Spanish fans. Despite such encouraging performances, Costa is one man that Spain do not want to be taking penalties. His club managers seem to have recognized this as Costa has only taken two penalties over the past four seasons.
The better part of these was spent at Chelsea where the presence of Eden Hazard prevented the Spaniard from taking penalties (apart from Costa’s notorious miss versus Liverpool). Yet even without Hazard, Costa’s previous performances at the spot (mostly for Atletico Madrid) suggest that he should be nowhere near a spot-kick (73.68% for his career).
Strangely enough, Spain will not have many alternative options as no qualified Spanish player ranks above Costa. This is mainly due to the majority of Spain’s squad coming from Real Madrid and Barcelona where Ronaldo and Messi are the unquestionable penalty takers. Rather interestingly, La Roja seem to have settled on Sergio Ramos as their penalty taker- something that back-fired in the 2016 Euros.
#17 Radamel Falcao (76.00%)
Having missed the last World Cup with an injury, Radamel Falcao will be eager to make an impact this time for Colombia. The South American nation are considered a potential dark-horse and for them to fulfil such predictions,
Falcao will need to be at his best. However, it may be for the best if the Colombian doesn’t start taking penalties for his side. Falcao has only made 76% of his penalties over his career- abysmal enough to rank third-last in this list.
While the Colombian striker has managed to revive his career at Monaco after disappointing spells in the Premier League, Falcao has missed three penalties for the Ligue 1 side over the past two years.
A missed spot-kick against Manchester City in the Round of 16 of the Champions League was particularly horrendous as it was caught by the goalkeeper. Nonetheless, Falcao’s actual ability may be better than indicated by the percentage as many of his misses came in his early days while playing for FC Porto.
#16 Lionel Messi (76.70%)
Even the greatest have their flaws. Messi has been one of the two best players in the world over the past decade and may be one of the best ever. Yet, the Argentine’s penalties leave much to be.
In fact, the above percentage (and thus his place in these rankings) may actually be overrating the Argentine’s place in these rankings. This is because Messi’s performance at the spot has gotten worse over the past few years of his career. Over the past year, Messi has only scored four out of his eight spot-kicks.
The main problem with the magician’s penalties are that they are often meek efforts within the goalkeeper’s reach (as was the case with the Iceland penalty). This makes the penalty a coin-flip as most keepers can save those efforts if they dive the right way.
Argentina are almost entirely reliant on Messi and perhaps it would be beneficial for him (and the team) if he was at least relieved of penalty duties especially considering that two of his compatriots are ranked above him. Nonetheless, Messi’s status in Argentina’s team (and in world football) is such that this is unlikely to occur.
#15 Carlos Bacca (77.14%)
The highest Colombian player in these rankings is rather unexpected, as most were likely expecting Falcao or James Rodriguez. The former’s record has already been covered while the latter hasn’t taken enough penalties over the last five league seasons to have qualified for such a list.
Instead, it is the experienced Villareal striker Carlos Bacca (on loan from AC Milan). The Colombian became a regular penalty-taker for a Europa-League winning Sevilla side as he scored 7 out of 9 from the spot.
Since then, the Colombian has established himself at the spot while playing for AC Milan and Villareal. However, his overall percentage still leaves much to be desired as he ranks 15th out of 19 players.
This is mainly due to Bacca’s low strikes coming at a comfortable height for goalkeepers (similar to Messi’s issues). Nonetheless considering Bacca’s position in these rankings as compared to Falcao, he (along with possibly James) should be the one taking spot-kicks for Colombia.
Tied #13 Dries Mertens (77.78%)
In the 2014 World Cup, Dries Mertens was a young winger who mainly came on for Belgium as a super-sub. Since then, Mertens has established himself as one of the best forwards in Serie A and will likely start for the Red Devils against Panama. At Napoli, Mertens has become the designated penalty taker for the Serie A runners up. This may not have been the best decision by manager Maurizio Sarri as Mertens has struggled.
Over the past two years, the Belgian has only scored from six of his nine penalties- rather disappointing for a team chasing titles like Napoli (his overall career record is slightly better). Having watched all nine of those penalties, I was actually surprised that he managed to make six of them. This is because all of the Belgian’s spot-kicks are predictable low shots which make them easier to save. The Napoli forward hasn’t taken a penalty for his country yet- just as well considering that a far better (and more experienced) penalty taker is in the Belgian side (no prizes for guessing).
Tied #13 Harry Kane (77.78%)
Harry Kane’s affinity for claiming goals is well-known and certainly, the Tottenham Hotspur striker will be taking penalties for the Three Lions in the World Cup. For good reason too, he is likely the best penalty-taker in the English squad (no other player qualified for this list).
Even so, the Englishman leaves much to be desired when it comes to his performance at the spot. He has scored 21 out of 27 penalties which seems impressive, yet ranks below 12 regular penalty takers in the World Cup.
Kane’s main issue is that occasionally, he fails to hit the target with his penalties. This was the case when Kane missed a 2017 penalty against Southampton and when he failed from the spot against Turkey while playing for England.
As captain and leader of this English team, Kane will have to eliminate such mistakes from the spot if England are to avoid any sort of their traditional penalty heartache.
#12 Thomas Muller (78.78%)
Thomas Muller is perhaps one of the most unappreciated players in the world- a horror performance vs Mexico notwithstanding. The German has been brilliant over the past two World Cups, as he grabbed ten goals over those two campaigns.
Interestingly enough, the forward has only taken one penalty over the last two years as he has been usurped at Bayern Munich by the player ranked No.2 in this list.
Before 2016, Muller was the designated penalty taker for the Bavarian giants and for good reason too. Until 2015, the German made 90% of his penalties- an outstanding number which would have ranked 3rd on this list.
Yet in the 2015-16 season, Muller struggled as he only made 8 of 12 penalties- which would have ranked last on this list (thus explaining why he has been taken off penalty duty since)- which culminated in him missing a crucial penalty in a shootout against Italy in the 2016 Euros.
However, Muller has taken crucial penalties for Germany before (including in the World Cup) and his status as the only German to have taken enough penalties to qualify for this list makes him the likely penalty-taker for the Die Mannschaft.
#11 Edinson Cavani (80.33%)
Funnily enough, despite being an above-average penalty-taker, Edinson Cavani will likely not be taking penalties for Uruguay as teammate Luis Suarez is likely to be preferred (as was the case in qualifying).
This may not be the best decision as Cavani has taken more penalties and converted them at a higher percentage than Suarez (who didn’t qualify for these rankings).
Since Zlatan Ibrahimović left Paris St Germain, Cavani has become the designated penalty-taker (for the most part) for the French side. In 2016-17, Cavani was particularly excellent from the spot as he made 90% of his penalties. Such form will be needed by Uruguay as they will likely move on to the knockout stages.
#10 Neymar (80.85%)
Ah the irony of Neymar being just above Cavani in this list. The climax in Paris St Germain’s soap opera-type season was Cavani’s argument with Neymar over a penalty. While Cavani is also excellent from the spot, Neymar just about takes the cake statistically.
It is also one of the few footballing aspects where Neymar performs better than his former teammate Messi. As Brazil’s unquestioned leader, Neymar is also always going to be the one taking spot-kicks (Messi and Ronaldo).
Neymar has been excellent from the spot for his clubs as he made eight successive penalties for Barcelona and PSG since missing one against Manchester City in October 2016. However, in that timespan, Neymar did miss a penalty for Brazil against Japan.
What might worry Selecao fans is that Neymar (like Messi and Mertens) has a tendency to shoot his spot-kicks at low heights which is easier for goalkeepers to save. Fortunately for Brazil, Neymar tends to vary his penalties with pauses and some stronger shots- thus making him one of the better penalty takers in the World Cup.
#9 Sergio Aguero (81.25%)
As an avid Premier League fan, I have seen my fair share of games from England’s top division. Even then, perhaps the most bizarre game I have ever watched was Manchester City 4-1 Tottenham in the 2014-15 Premier League season.
In that game, Sergio Aguero took an absurd three penalties- more than some regular penalty takers take in a season. Aguero missed one of the three- rather rare for the Argentine at that point as he had made 94.4% of his penalties until that point. Since then, Aguero’s performances at the spot have been mediocre as he has only made 73.3% of his penalties.
In fact, the Argentine has missed his five penalties in two years- numbers that suggest that looking at his career statistics may be overrating him. Three of those misses were meek shots at comfortable heights for goalkeepers while the other two were off target. This poor recent form is an indication why Messi still may be preferable to Aguero when it comes to taking penalties, even if the latter’s current record is better.
#8 Luka Milivojević (81.82%)
Weren’t expecting that? Neither was I- in fact, I double-checked and triple-checked the numbers to see if the rather anonymous Serbian midfielder Milivojevic is the 8th best penalty taker in the tournament.
In reality, these rankings may be underselling the Crystal Place midfielder’s ability to the spot, as one of his two misses in his career was in a Serbian Superliga game six years previously.
Milivojevic has since taken ten penalties (all for Palace), having only missed one of them (a vital one that could have ended Manchester City’s unbeaten run). In fact, Milivojevic’s penalties were a major reason why Crystal Palace managed to get out of their early season rut and move to midtable safety.
Milivojevic’s biggest strength is that his penalties are accurate as he has only placed one penalty off-target throughout his career. Interestingly, Serbia haven’t been awarded a penalty in international football since 2010 so the identity of their regular penalty-taker is still unknown.
It will likely be Alexander Kolarov (after that free-kick it would take a brave man to get him off a set piece)- considering these statistics, Milivojevic would perhaps be a preferable choice.
#7 Paulo Dybala (82.61%)
Perhaps there is no better player in the World Cup who is not a surefire starter for their nation than Paulo Dybala. Reports have suggested that Messi does not like playing with the Juventus forward- understandable considering that their styles are very similar (and Messi is far more superior).
Nonetheless, when it comes to penalties, Dybala should be the one taking spot-kicks if he is on the pitch (which he wasn’t during the Iceland game). Similarly to Milivojevic, Dybala’s career statistics may be underselling his penalty prowess.
This is because Dybala has made 90.5% of his penalties since November 2014. His biggest strength is his unpredictability. Consider Dybala’s last five successful penalties: two were low shots to the right, one central low shot, one shot in the right corner and one shot in the left corner.
While Dybala missed two penalties over the last season, his record since 2014 is so good that Jorge Sampaoli should consider subbing him in a penalty specialist before a shootout in a knockout game.
#6 Cristiano Ronaldo (84.55%)
While much higher than his rival Messi, Ronaldo is also in the unfamiliar position of being below the podium in any ranking. The Portuguese forward has taken more penalty-kicks than anyone on this list (and most likely any active player) with 123 (the next five have taken 141 combined).
Despite such huge volume, Ronaldo has still managed to score a high percentage of his spot-kicks (as indicated by his ranking). However similarly to Messi, Ronaldo’s ability at the spot has declined over the past few years.
Before 2014, Ronaldo’s penalty success percentage (both for clubs and Portugal) was an astronomical 88.89%. Since then, Ronaldo’s percentage has declined to a more average 78.43% (though still a passable number).
He even missed a crucial penalty in a goalless draw against Austria in the opening games of their 2016 Euros campaign. Nonetheless as his effort against Spain showed, Ronaldo continues to be one of the best penalty takers in the World.
#5 Jamie Vardy (84.61%)
Since their Cinderella run to the Premier League title, Leicester City have perhaps been one of the more inconsistent teams in the league as their performances have ranged from their 2015-16 excellence to relegation worthy awful.
One of the few certainties during this time has been Jamie Vardy’s performance at the penalty spot as he has made 6 out of 7 penalties since that title run. Vardy’s excellent performance at the spot is mainly due to his unpredictability which can be seen through his last five successful penalties.
The Leicester striker deposited two penalties in the bottom left corner, one in the bottom right corner, one in the top right corner and one in the top left corner. While Vardy has taken fewer career penalties than anyone on this list (having been a low profile winger before 2015), his performances in high-pressure situations suggest that his high percentage is not flawed due to a small sample size.
#4 Eden Hazard (85.11%)
Eden Hazard certainly felt (doesn’t he always) that he should have had a few penalties in Belgium’s first group game against Panama. If the Red Devils would have been awarded a spot-kick, then there is no question that Eden Hazard would be the one taking it.
Hazard has consistently been among the best penalty takers in the Premier League over the past five seasons as he helped lead Chelsea to two league titles. Similarly to Dybala and Milivojevic, Hazard has only improved from the spot. Since October 2015, Hazard has made 88.89% of his penalties for club and country.
Like many others ranked near the top of this list, Hazard’s approach at the spot is to aim for the bottom corners. Three of his last five successful penalties were placed in the bottom left corner while the other two were deposited in the bottom right.
The Belgian also effectively uses a pause to help deceive goalkeepers as he did against David De Gea in the FA Cup final. Considering Belgium’s impressive attack, it is almost certain that Hazard will have opportunities at the spot throughout the World Cup. Given his record, goalkeepers might as well start picking the ball out of the net when Hazard steps up to the spot.
#3 Ricardo Rodriguez (86.96%)
Every single player up to this point (and after Rodriguez) has been a midfielder or a striker (all relatively attacking players with the possible exception of Milivojevic). Yet, there are defenders who have been excellent from the spot throughout their careers.
Ricardo Rodriguez is probably the best of these defenders. The Swiss defender has scored 20 of 23 penalties for his career as he has been the designated penalty taker for AC Milan, Wolfsburg and of course, Switzerland.
Rodriguez was particularly excellent between October 2014 and February 2018, when he made 12 successive penalties. The interesting aspect about Rodriguez’s penalties is that they are rather predictable. His last four successful penalties have all been deposited in the right corner.
Yet due to their accuracy along with an effective pause, Rodriguez has been able to be extremely successful from the spot. Switzerland will be hoping that Rodriguez gets plenty of opportunities to improve this record.
#2 Robert Lewandowski (90.24%)
Perhaps the world’s most renowned penalty-taker, Lewandowski’s prowess at the spot is already much-discussed. Particularly impressive was a four-year streak where the Polish international did not miss a penalty for club or country.
While that streak ended in March 2018 when the Pole missed a penalty vs Hamburger SV. Such sustained excellence has not been replicated by any active player (not even by the player ranked 1st in this list).
What is interesting about Lewandowski that he very rarely tries to deposit the ball in the top corner, instead preferring low shots. Yet what makes him different from the likes of Mertens, Neymar and Bacca is that Lewandowski’s low shots are almost always in the left or right corners thus making them impossible to save.
The Bayern Munich striker also effectively utilizes a pause when taking spot-kicks thus often outwitting goalkeepers. There are very few certainties in football, yet Robert Lewandowski’s performance at the spot is one of them.
#1 Iago Aspas (94.12%)
Aspas is not a name that many (including yours truly) were expecting at the top of this list. The former Liverpool player has only missed one penalty out of 17 spot kicks. Aspas’s consistency at the spot has been crucial for Celta Vigo over the past few years.
Aspas is unique in the sense that he often chooses to place his penalties down the middle (having deceived the opposing goalkeeper into diving). This has been the case in three of his last six penalties suggesting a propensity to go down the middle that is far greater than any player on this list.
To be perfectly honest, Aspas’s status at the top of this list could be due to a sample size that is smaller than of all players in this list with the exception of Vardy. Nonetheless, Aspas’s astronomically high percentage is so high that even if he missed his next penalty, the Spaniard would only be ranked below Lewandowski.
This sustained quality at the spot is why Spanish manager Fernando Hierro should consider Aspas as the first-choice penalty taker if he is on the field (Aspas was substituted in against Portugal).
