Lionel Messi’s terrible World Cup penalty record gets worse against Egypt
Lionel Messi had a chance to equalize Argentina’s round of 16 match against Egypt but missed his second penalty of this edition of the World Cup.
There are some things in this world that just don’t make any sense. Who made the Nazca Lines? How were the pyramids built? And how does the best soccer player ever have such a terrible penalty record in the World Cup?
Messi is 50% from the spot
Lionel Messi just missed another penalty, this time against Egypt to drop his all time World Cup penalty success rate to 50%. Down by a goal in the first half of their round of 16 match, Messi went to the spot after a penalty was awarded to Argentina looking for his eighth goal of the World Cup.
He drove it low and to the right corner, but he was bested by Egypt’s keeper Mostafa Shobeir as the Pharaohs kept their one goal advantage over the defending World Champions. This wasn’t the first time Messi missed a penalty in this edition of the World Cup.
MESSI'S PENALTY KICK IS SAVED BY SHOBEIR 🤯 pic.twitter.com/oAUkHrLGWO
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 7, 2026
He had a chance to break Miroslav Klose’s all the record for World Cup goals against Austria back in the group stages, and stepped to the spot with a chance to take the outright lead over the German goal scorer. He blew the penalty wide of the target to become the player with the most penalties missed in the World Cup with three.
Setting records, good and bad
He eventually did break Klose’s record scoring his 17th World Cup goal against Austria with a much more memorable goal. That arose suspicion that perhaps Messi tried to miss the penalty so the record setting goal would be one to remember, and indeed it was.
2 - Lionel Messi is the first player in World Cup history to miss two penalties at a single edition (excluding shootouts).
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 7, 2026
Shock. pic.twitter.com/PThOcWlcat
He’s scored seven of his record setting 20 World Cup goals this summer, and they have come in different forms. Most have been from the run of play. One came off a rebound and another one was from a free kick. What he hasn’t done is score from the spot in this tournament. His miss against Egypt turned him into the first player to miss multiple penalty kicks in the same edition of the World Cup.
In his World Cup career he has missed four of the penalties of the eight he has attempted. That is a far cry from his his overall penalty record. After Tuesday’s missed penalty he has taken 150 penalties and missed 34 of those for a success rate of 77.3%.
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