I take no pride in this, but when Messi stepped up to the spot in the 6th minute after a lengthy VAR review granted Argentina the penalty when Martínez was taken down in the box, I declared to my child: “Messi will shank this.”
And he did.
I’m not a fan of the stutter-step penalty, particularly when it involves a significant lull in momentum. Messi employed this technique, before swinging his left leg and pulling the ball inches wide of the right post.
It was a miss that stunned the capacity crowd into silence. The greatest player in the game, on an occasion to break Miroslav Klose’s all-time goal record, couldn’t seal the deal.
Not an Isolated Incident
According to Transfermarkt, Lionel Messi has taken 146 penalties over his long career. This includes spot kicks in league, domestic tournament, friendlies and international tournament competitions. It excludes penalty shootouts.
He has missed 32, including today’s. That’s a conversion rate of 78%. Among those misses are a few notable ones, such as Halldórsson’s save in the 2018 World Cup, or his clang off the crossbar in the 2012 Champion’s League semi-final that Barcelona lost to Chelsea.
How Does Messi Rank?
Messi’s 78% actually makes him the worst penalty taker among the elite pantheon of superstars who have logged 100 or more attempts.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the snake to Messi’s mongoose, has taken 219 and missed 36, a conversion of 83.6%. Fellow self-centered egoist Zlatan Ibrahimović also has 83.6% (17 misses in 104).
Harry Kane? He’s taken 122 and missed 14. That’s an impressive 88.5% success rate, though that 2022 World Cup whiff against France was spectacularly devastating. Robert Lewandowski echoes Kane’s efficiency with 88.1% (12 misses in 101).
Mexico’s Raúl Jiménez, who scored his first World Cup goal after 112 caps for El Tri, has an astounding 95.8% conversion (2 misses in 47). Kylian Mpabbé, who’s breathing down Messi’s neck for the all-time World Cup record (he has 15), converts penalties 82.1% of the time (14 misses in 78).
Still the GOAT
For what it’s worth, Messi would get his record-setting 17th World Cup goal in the 38th minute. Facundo Medina drove to the left corner of the box, then passed back to where Messi was inexplicably unmarked near the arc, and he duly passed it into the back of the net.
And for those who still worship at the altar of Diego Maradona, Messi has scored more World Cup goals since turning 35 than the pudgy one scored in his lifetime.
Yeah, he’s still the GOAT. But at the spot, give the ball to someone else.
Editor’s Note
Fifteen minutes after this article was posted, Lionel Messi scored another goal mere seconds before the end of the match against Austria. It wasn’t a pretty score, it was characteristic of his drive and persistence as he chased down a ping-ponging ball before finally slotting it home.
It was his fifth goal in this World Cup, putting him first for the Golden Boot.
