Lionel Messi overtakes Cristiano Ronaldo in number of penalties missed

What's the story?

While Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have consistently been challenging one another for over a decade, the Barcelona captain has now surpassed one of the former Real Madrid star's unwanted records.

In case you didn't know...

Barcelona went head-to-head with Valladolid in La Liga on Sunday in a game that saw the Catalan giants extend their lead at the top of the table to seven points.

Messi's lone goal proved to be enough to secure the win for the table-toppers, but the Argentine squandered a second penalty spot-kick that would have added to his goal tally and helped him extend his lead in the race for the European Golden Shoe.

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde, however, is not worried about the Argentine's ability to take penalties.

When asked if he was anxious to let his captain take spot-kicks, Valverde told Goal, "No, no, I'm not particularly nervous. I was convinced he was going to score both."

"Leo is a safe bet. He could have scored more goals as well."

The heart of the matter

With the penalty miss, Messi has now surpassed Juventus star Ronaldo in the number of penalties missed in his career.

According to Calciomercato, the Barcelona star has scored 84 penalties out of 110 spot-kicks and has missed 26 so far, thereby putting his error percentage at 24%.

Ronaldo, on the other hand, has taken 114 successful penalties from 139 spot-kicks, giving him an error percentage of 17.9% and putting his number of penalties missed at 25.

What's next?

Barcelona are next set to face Lyon in the opening leg of their Champions League Round of 16 fixture on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, Serie A table-toppers Juventus will also shift their focus to the Champions League where they will face Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.