Messi has missed 25 penalties, four with Argentina
The star of the Argentina side missed a penalty against Iceland that would have given his side victory in their opening game at the World Cup in Russia.
Leo Messi’s run of bad at luck at major tournaments continues, this time from the penalty spot, his achilles heel. The Argentinean star missed another spot-kick, this time one which denied Argentina a win over Iceland. In total he’s missed four of the 19 penalties he’s taken in the blue and white, an error rate of 21%.
Messi and his problems from the penalty spot
It’s an issue Messi has struggled with throughout his career, compared to the strike rates of the other leading forwards. And it’s affected him both for Barcelona and his country. In total he’s taken 107 penalties, scoring 82 and missing 25. A success rate of just 76.6%, well below Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic and Cavani who all boast numbers in the mid-80s.
The Iceland goalkeeper, Hannes Thor Halldorsson, who stopped Messi’s penalty, said: "I did my homework, I knew what could happen. I studied Messi. I tried to get inside his head, I had a feeling he could go that way”.
And he did.
| Classification | PTS | WM | TM | LM |
|---|
| Upcoming matches |
|---|