World Cup 2018: Ranking the Best Penalty Takers in Russia

#16 Lionel Messi (76.70%)

Lionel Messi

Even the greatest have their flaws. Messi has been one of the two best players in the world over the past decade and may be one of the best ever. Yet, the Argentine’s penalties leave much to be.

In fact, the above percentage (and thus his place in these rankings) may actually be overrating the Argentine’s place in these rankings. This is because Messi’s performance at the spot has gotten worse over the past few years of his career. Over the past year, Messi has only scored four out of his eight spot-kicks.

The main problem with the magician’s penalties are that they are often meek efforts within the goalkeeper’s reach (as was the case with the Iceland penalty). This makes the penalty a coin-flip as most keepers can save those efforts if they dive the right way.

Argentina are almost entirely reliant on Messi and perhaps it would be beneficial for him (and the team) if he was at least relieved of penalty duties especially considering that two of his compatriots are ranked above him. Nonetheless, Messi’s status in Argentina’s team (and in world football) is such that this is unlikely to occur.