Analysing penalty records of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both missed a penalty in their most recent game. With that, their record in penalty shots has changed. The latest data still shows the wide gap between the two in terms of converting penalty shots to goals. The data shows the better athlete among the two does not miss an opportunity to score a goal without any call.

The Portugal star missed an opportunity to score a goal in the first 90 minutes of the match against Slovakia. Ronaldo was in tears after his inability to score the goal that led the match to a penalty shootout. But he made a comeback and scored a goal in the shootouts. The Argentina skipper, on the other hand, failed to score a goal in the shootouts against Ecuador.

In the ongoing Copa America and Euro 2024, the duo has had a rough time in their previous match. With the latest miss, Ronaldo has a total of 164 goals from 194 penalties with a great conversion rate of 84.5%. Messi has a total of 109 goals in 140 attempts. His conversion rate stands at 77.9%. While Ronaldo has missed 30 penalties in his career so far, Messi has missed 31 despite getting 54 fewer attempts.

Cristiano Ronaldo head and shoulders above Lionel Messi

By pure numbers, Ronaldo seems to be a better striker. At the club level, Cristiano has 144 goals in 166 attempts leading to a success rate of 86.7%. On the other hand, Lionel has 85 goals in 111 appearances with a conversion rate of 76.6%. The only aspect in which Lionel Messi has a wood over Ronaldo is while playing for the national side. 

Also Read: Lionel Messi attempts a Panenka effort but misses the penalty for Argentina against Ecuador

For Argentina, Messi has 24 goals in 29 penalty attempts with a conversion rate of 82.8%. In that regard, Cristiano has 20 goals in 28 attempts with a conversion rate of just 71.4%. Both of them had some big penalty misses. Lionel had them against Chelsea and Chile in 2012 and 2016 respectively. Ronaldo has 3 such instances against Barcelona, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich in 2008, 2008, and 2012 respectively.