Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: Who has missed most penalties?

Both stars are really good when it comes to the matter of spot-kicks.

Two of the best players that the beautiful sport has ever seen are Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The Portuguese and Argentine superstars have accomplished everything and essentially won everything in their well-established careers. They have thrilled the viewers with magical solo runs, wonder goals, and with their pivotal match-winning goals.

It is not surprising that these two athletic opponents have collected their fair share of penalties throughout the years, given their exceptional abilities.

The two have been the most dependable from 12 yards when their teams have needed them most, even if they both missed spot kicks in Euro 2024 and Copa America 2024.

They have always stepped up in big matches when the games have gone for shoutouts. In this piece, we will take a look at the number of penalties they have missed in their career.

How many penalties have Ronaldo & Messi missed in their career?

Naturally, Lionel Messi has been the most prolific penalty scorer in his career while playing for Barcelona. Messi scored 78 penalties while playing for the Blaugrana. He missed (or was saved) 29 in that span.

Ronaldo scored 79 goals from 12-yard range for Real Madrid, his most productive team. He missed (or was saved) 18 throughout that span.

Between 2018–19 and 2020–21, Ronaldo scored eight penalties for Portugal during his greatest run in front of nervous international goalkeepers.

2011–12 was Messi’s best season from the penalty spot. He scored three for Argentina and fourteen for Barcelona during that season, totalling 17 spot-kicks.

Despite being the main takers of the spot kicks for their respective teams both players have also had bad days sometimes. Surprisingly so far both stars have missed the same number of spot kicks in their careers.

Ronaldo’s recent penalty miss came for Al-Nassr in their King Cup of Champions when the Portuguese sent his shot over the roof. Below we take a look at both players’ missed spot kicks along with scored tally in their career.

Players	Penalties taken	Penalties scored	Penalties missed
Cristiano Ronaldo	194	164	31
Lionel Messi	141	111	31

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