Cristiano Ronaldo surpasses Lionel Messi in unwanted record after missing penalty against Denmark

Ronaldo has set a new record after fluffing his chances from the spot.

After an exciting qualifying encounter against Denmark, Portugal guaranteed their place in the UEFA Nations League final four. Yet, the game also saw star Cristiano Ronaldo miss a penalty. Ronaldo surpassed Lionel Messi in a negative milestone as Denmark’s Kasper Schmeichel saved his penalty.

After losing 1-0 in the first leg, Portugal had to get a win, and they nearly took the advantage early in the return match. Following a VAR review, the referee gave Ronaldo a penalty after Denmark’s Patrick Dorgu fouled him inside the area in the third minute.

Schmeichel made the save when Ronaldo went up to take the penalty kick. Ronaldo, however, made amends later in the match by scoring and securing Portugal’s spot in the semifinals. But the forward’s missed penalty was an unwelcome accomplishment.

With his missed penalty, Ronaldo now has 32 missed penalties, the most in soccer history. Lionel Messi, who previously shared the record with the Portuguese with 31 misses, saw his record surpassed by his long-term rival.

With 173 spot-kicks scored out of 205 tries, Ronaldo has the most penalties of any player, with a miss percentage of roughly 15.6%. Messi, meanwhile, has a miss percentage of roughly 22.1% and has scored 109 goals from 140 penalties. The last time he missed was in 2022.

On the list, the two soccer superstars are far ahead of everyone else. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has 16 botched penalties from 92 tries, Antonio Di Natale has 15 wasted penalties from 58 efforts, and Italian icon Francesco Totti has 20 missed penalties from 106 attempts, making him the third most missed-penalty taker.

Despite being the preferred penalty taker for the entirety of his career at both the club and national levels, Ronaldo’s conversion rate with Portugal is lower than his club output.

🇵🇹⚡️ Cristiano Ronaldo (40) and his 136th goal for the Portugal national team. 🤩Only 2 mens players have ever scored 100+ international goals: Cristiano Ronaldo and Iran's Ali Daei. pic.twitter.com/3nF72VoF7K

— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) March 25, 2025

Ronaldo has converted 152 of his 175 penalties at the club level, yielding an 86.9% success percentage. With Portugal, though, he has scored 21 goals in 30 tries, bringing his rate down to 70%.

Messi’s average conversion rate for Argentina, however, is higher than that of club level. He has scored 85 goals from 111 attempts for his club, his conversion rate is 76.6%. He has converted 24 out of 29 penalties for Argentina, yielding an 82.8% conversion rate.

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