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Scoring a penalty might look like an easy thing to do for spectators. However, the truth is far from it. Footballers go up against world-class goalkeepers who are difficult to outfox and have the ability to cover nearly half of the goalmouth with a dive.
A moment's hesitation or indecisiveness can prove to be detrimental. The pressure is also incredible as the penalty taker is expected to score. If he misses, he will be slagged off and slated whereas the goalkeeper doesn't have to face such tribulations for failing to save a penalty.
That's why football players hate penalty shootouts. It's a high-pressure scenario where chance plays a huge role and things can go south in the blink of an eye. Even then, fans would expect the most technically astute players to find the back of the net from 12 yards out. But that would, in reality, be a little presumptuous of them.
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On that note, let's take a look at five superstars who struggle at scoring penalties.
#5 Lionel Messi (Argentina/Paris Saint-Germain)
Lionel Messi has scored so many goals from the spot that it's easy to be fooled into thinking that he is one of the best at it. But that's not the truth. Even Messi, one of the greatest footballers of all time, has struggled to put the ball in the back of the net from 12 yards out.
He scored a brace that included a brilliant panenka from the spot for PSG in a thrilling 3-2 win over RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night. But Messi has not always looked that comfortable taking penalties.
Messi has scored 102 penalties in his career so far. However, he has also missed a whopping 29 of them. That's a little less than a fourth of all the 131 penalties he has taken in his illustrious career. It would have been fair to expect arguably the greatest footballer of all time to have a better conversion rate from the spot.
#4 Kylian Mbappe (France/Paris Saint-Germain)
The crowned prince of football, Kylian Mbappe, hasn't enjoyed great success from the spot either. The Frenchman most recently skied a penalty in PSG's 3-2 win over RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.
The miss would have stung as Lionel Messi chose to forgo the opportunity to score a hat-trick by handing the ball over to Mbappe after PSG were awarded a secon penalty. The 22-year-old had enjoyed a great outing up until that point but he awkwardly sent the ball flying over the crossbar.
Mbappe missed from the spot for France against Switzerland in the penalty shootout in the Round of 16 at Euro 2020. His spot kick was saved by Switzerland goalkeeper Yan Sommer and it caused France to crash out of the continental competition.
Apart from penalty shootouts, Mbappe has taken a total of 19 penalties and missed four of them.
#3 Paul Pogba (France/Manchester United)
Before Bruno Fernandes monopolized the penalty-taking business at Manchester United, Paul Pogba was the designated taker for a while. The Frenchman is infamous for his unhurried run-up which is supposedly meant to put goalkeepers off.
Pogba does alter his style in between and takes the old-fashioned route too but neither have proven to be very fruitful for him. Pogba has taken 18 penalties in his career so far and has missed five of them. He misses almost one out of every three penalties and is thus, far from being a reliable penalty taker.
At Manchester United, Pogba has fallen well down the pecking order as far as penalties are concerned. The Red Devils now have Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford who are all pretty dependable from the spot.
#2 Antoine Griezmann (France/Atletico Madrid)
Antoine Griezmann is one of the finest attackers of his generation. The technically gifted forward has been brilliant for both club and country over the last decade. He was one of France's standout performers at Euro 2016 and in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Griezmann has scored a total of 223 goals in 569 appearances in his club career. However, the 30-year-old has a poor record when it comes to penalties. He has scored just 18 of the 28 penalties he has taken in his career. Yes, he has missed more than a third of the penalties he has taken thus far.
He was removed from penalty duties for his national side after missing two in back-to-back Euro 2020 qualifiers against Albania and Andorra in the 2018-19 season.
#1 Edin Dzeko (Bosnia & Herzegovina/Inter Milan)
Edin Dzeko has been a reliable goalscorer for both club and country. He is counted as an elite striker and was particularly brilliant during his stints with AS Roma and Manchester City.
Even though Dzeko is an excellent finisher who is also adept at orchestrating play inside the final third, his record from the spot is ridiculously poor. Dzeko has taken a total of 21 penalties in his career. The 35-year-old has missed 10 of those.
That makes him arguably the worst penalty taker among elite players. Dzeko's penalty record is so poor that since the start of the 2017-18 season, he has only been asked to take two penalties. He missed both of them. His last goal from the spot came in the 2016-17 season for Bosnia & Herzegovina in an international friendly against Albania.
