In a surprising twist, Al-Nassr superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has broken the record for the most missed penalties in football history, surpassing the previous mark held by Lionel Messi. While Ronaldo is celebrated as one of the greatest goal scorers in the sport, this unwanted record adds a different angle to his storied career.
Ronaldo now holds the record for the most penalties missed, with 34 failed attempts. His latest miss occurred recently in a match against Ireland, where Brentford’s goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher saved his shot from 12 yards. Despite this, Ronaldo remains the highest-scoring penalty taker of all time, having successfully converted 177 penalties out of 211 attempts, giving him an impressive conversion rate of 83.8%, which is still above the average rate of 75%.
Before Ronaldo, Lionel Messi held the record with 32 missed penalties. The former Barcelona and Inter Miami star has taken 145 penalties, scoring 113 and missing 32, which equates to a conversion rate of 77.9%. Although Messi has improved his penalty-taking skills in recent years, he often prefers to pass on penalty duties to teammates.
Other notable players who have missed a significant number of penalties include Neymar, who missed 22 out of 113 attempts but maintained a solid 80.5% conversion rate. The Brazilian has been perfect from the spot since rejoining Santos earlier this year.
Francesco Totti missed 20 penalties during his career but finished strong, scoring his last 13 spot-kicks consecutively. Ciro Immobile has missed 19 penalties and Zlatan Ibrahimovic 17, with the latter struggling more during his final years at AC Milan. Ronaldinho rounds out the list with 16 misses despite an 81.1% conversion rate.
Although missing penalties is never desired, the players mentioned have all had impressive overall records from the spot. Ronaldo’s new record for misses serves as a reminder of the pressure involved but does not diminish his extraordinary goal-scoring achievements throughout his career.
