Stepping up and taking a penalty is one of the few things in sport that invites pressure. It is extremely intense to stare down the opposing custodian while surrounded by the cheers and jeers of supporters while attempting to score from the penalty spot, whether in the Champions League or in the lower leagues of the sport. This is not for the faint of heart or those who are prone to losing their composure under the brightest of lights.
Over the years, there have been several instances where stars have been affected by pressure that was obviously too much for them. Some, however, are born from the penalty spot. Some players rarely miss a spot kick, which gives them amazing records. The full list of the top 10 players in the twenty-first century has now been made public, and some intriguing names are among them.
10Ciro Immobile
84 penalties
Ciro Immobile comes in at number 10 with 84 penalties. Throughout his career, the 35-year-old, who is presently playing for Besiktas in Turkey, has been scoring goals for enjoyment. He has scored 317 goals throughout his time on the pitch and is most known for his successful run with Lazio.
Only little more than 25% of them came from penalty kicks, accounting for 26% of his total goal total. The Italian, who isn’t slowing down in the Turkish Super Lig this season, makes a great comeback.
9Dusan Tadic
85 penalties
Dusan Tadic is only one penalty ahead of Ciro Immobile on 85. With Fenerbahce in the Turkish Super Lig, the former Southampton and Ajax star continues to score goals on a reasonably regular basis. He has spent the majority of his career scoring from the penalty spot. But no one has a higher proportion than Tadic when it comes to the portion of his total goals that were penalties.
During his 17 years on the football pitch, he has scored 35 percent of his goals from the penalty spot. That represents a large portion of his 246 goals.
8Francesco Totti
86 penalties
Francesco Totti, a man renowned for his unwavering dedication, played for AS Roma his whole career and scored many goals for the team. He converted 86 penalties overall for both club and country, accounting for more over 25% of his total time in front of goal.
Over his career, the Italian scored 572 goals, 27% of which came from the penalty spot. On this list, it ranks as the second-highest percentage of penalty goals in terms of total return. It’s simple to understand why Roma supporters adore him for his contributions over the years.
7Zlatan Ibrahimovic
87 penalties
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is more well-known for his audacious demeanour and extraordinary self-assurance, but it’s easy to forget that he was a skilled football player who consistently supported his claims with outstanding on-field achievements. Over the years, no one has given the Swede more accolades than he has, but he has earned it and has hardly ever made a mistake at the penalty spot.
He scored 87 penalty kicks for teams like Barcelona, Manchester United, and AC Milan over the years. Throughout his 24-year career, Ibrahimovic scored 572 goals, accounting for 15% of his total goal total.
6Robert Lewandowski
88 penalties
Robert Lewandowski, a striker who has scored many goals well into his late 30s and has aged like a fine wine, is only one penalty ahead of Ibrahimovic. The goals have come regardless of where he has played, and at 36, he is still playing at a very good level for Barcelona.
Lewandowski has scored 687 goals in his career, yet only 13% of those goals have come from the penalty spot. If he had consistently taken more penalties during his career with teams like Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and now Barcelona, it’s frightening to consider how many more goals he may have scored.
5Neymar
88 penalties
Neymar is tied with Lewandowski but is ranked slightly higher than him since his penalties account for a higher portion of his total goal total. Over the years, the Brazilian has also made 88 conversions from the spot. With the Brazilian club, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, and the Brazil national team, he first made his debut at Santos.
Twenty percent of his 443 goals in his career have come from penalties. Neymar may have taken even more penalties if he hadn’t played with players like Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi for a significant amount of his career.
4Harry Kane
89 penalties
Harry Kane, the all-time top scorer for Tottenham Hotspur and England, is accustomed to taking penalties and has been scoring from the spot his entire career. He has been a prolific goal scorer over the years, and now that he is a member of Bayern Munich, he has carried that outstanding play to Germany.
Twenty percent of Kane’s 441 career goals were from spot kicks. Few players have been as productive as he has been in recent years, but in the end, it hasn’t resulted in much success in terms of hardware. That might be about to change, though, as he appears to be on track to win his first trophy at Bayern.
3Lionel Messi
109 penalties
Lionel Messi is regarded as the best football player of all time and has scored one of the most goals from the penalty spot in the twenty-first century. With 109 penalty kicks in the twenty-first century, the Argentine is far ahead of Kane in third place. He has never had much trouble scoring from the penalty spot, whether it was for Barcelona, PSG, Inter Miami, or Argentina. However, penalties only account for 13% of his amazing goal-scoring record.
Messi has scored 852 goals over the years, and no one compares to him, even though he has scored 109 penalties.
2Hulk
116 penalties
Hulk is second and seven penalties ahead of Messi. The forward, who was renowned for his amazing combination of savage strength and lightning-fast speed, never quite reached the pinnacle of football. He never played in one of Europe’s top five leagues, despite being a huge fan favourite over the years. Nevertheless, he always performed well wherever he went.
This includes Hulk’s 116 goals from the penalty spot. The Brazilian has scored 435 goals in his career, which accounts for 27% of his total return. However, his remarkable comeback is nothing compared to the number one on this list, who has outperformed him.
1Cristiano Ronaldo
173 penalties
Naturally, Cristiano Ronaldo, the greatest scorer in football history, scored a significant portion of his spectacular comeback from the penalty spot. No matter where he plays, his poise with spot kicks guarantees that he is consistently his team’s top penalty taker, and over his career, he has scored 173 goals from the set-piece.
That’s a huge improvement over second place. Only 19% of Ronaldo’s 927 goals over the years have come from penalties, despite some supporters accusing him of occasionally depending on them. However, it’s interesting to note that he shares the record for the most penalty misses in the twenty-first century.
