Messi or Ronaldo: Who is the best in penalties?
The World Cup in Russia may be their final tournament together. What an odd contrast, though, between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo! The day before, when Ronaldo single-handedly saved Portugal from defeat, Argentina was forced to concede due to Messi’s missed penalty! Both Ronaldo’s ability to score from penalties as well as Messi’s missed penalties are not new, though. Who will win when you accept the penalty? Messi? Not a Ronaldo? Let’s examine.
Messi’s penalty record
Messi is the first-choice penalty taker in both Barcelona and Argentina. His record in penalty shots is quite good. He managed to convert 81% of the total penalties taken in La Liga into goals. However, when these two words Messi and penalty come together, everyone remembers the 2016 Copa America final, where Argentina lost 4-2 after his penalty miss.
Messi has taken a total of 59 penalties in La Liga so far. He scored 48 of them, and the remaining 11 were missed. The success rate is 81.35%. Scored 11 of 14 penalties in the Champions League, a success rate of 78.54%. And he managed to score 12 goals with 16 penalties in the jersey of the national team, the success rate is 75%. That is, with a total of 88 penalties, Messi managed to score 71 of them, and the success rate is 80.68%. There is no way to call this record bad.
Let’s now compare Ronaldo’s history with penalties.
Ronaldo’s penalty record
Like Messi, Ronaldo is the main penalty-taker for both club and the national team. And he has been fulfilling this responsibility quite successfully. Scored 11 of 13 penalties during his time in the Premier League, a success rate of 84.61%. Coming into La Liga, he scored 61 of 71 penalties, a success rate of 85.91. 16 penalties in the Champions League with just two missed, a success rate of 87.50%. However, the loss for the national team is quite low, with 11 penalties scored in 7, and the success rate is 63.63%.
In total, Ronaldo has taken a total of 111 penalties so far, scoring 93 of them. The overall success rate is 83.78%. In other words, CR Seven is far ahead of Messi in scoring penalties. 12.97% of Messi’s career goals have come from penalties, while 15.92% of Ronaldo’s career goals have come from penalties.
Messi, though, has demonstrated that he is anxious by consistently missing the penalty at crucial moments. In Moscow, it was once more demonstrated against Iceland!
