Top 10 Penalty Takers

jonjoward1998
Jan 14
6 min read

Taking a penalty is one of the hardest jobs in football because the taker is under the spotlight and is under a lot of pressure to put the ball in the back of the net.

To be a good penalty taker, you need to be calm and composed under pressure, a good striker of the ball and have a good idea of where you want to the ball to go.

A lot of players have boiled under the pressure over the years because they haven't had the composure or the confidence to take a penalty.

But there have still been a great number of players who have had a great record from the spot and they've had good penalty records because of their calmness, composure and accuracy when striking the ball.

Players who are good at taking penalties are used to high pressured situations and when they're used to high pressured situations, they know how to keep their cool and stay composed.

The players on the list have been among the best penalty takers in Europe throughout the modern era and without further ordo, here is the list:

Cristiano Ronaldo

Bruno Fernandes

Lionel Messi

Yaya Toure

Robert Lewandowski

Mohamed Salah

Cole Palmer

Harry Kane

Andrea Pirlo

Erling Haaland

Andrea Pirlo

Pirlo was a calm and composed penalty taker on his day with his Panenka penalty against England at Euro 2012 for Italy being an example of that.

Very few players have been able to replicate that penalty since the man himself did it and Pirlo to repeat it to perfection shows how classy a player he was.

But whilst he made the task look effortless by keeping a cool head, he did miss a lot of spot kicks throughout his career which is why I have him at no.10.

He scored from the spot 27 times over the course of his career during games and a few during shootouts. But he still missed a lot in both.

Cole Palmer

Palmer will probably be higher up this list in a few years time because his penalty record is very good but as he's still young and has the rest of his career ahead of him, I had to put him in 9th.

He's been Chelsea's main penalty taker ever since he joined them and has scored all but one of the penalties he's taken since he's been at the club.

He always knows where he wants to place the ball, puts enough power behind the ball for it to reach the back of the net and when he takes a penalty, he's always composed and is never fazed by the pressure of taking one.

He always goes for the corner when taking a penalty which is how a penalty should be taken as you want to place the ball in the area of the goal where it's difficult for the keeper to save it.

Mohamed Salah

Salah's penalty record is genuinely very good as he has netted a total of 55 goals from the penalty spot over the course of his career which is a good return.

He always hits his penalties his power and in the corners and he always backs himself to score whenever he takes one because of the confidence he has within himself as a player.

But he has still missed a lot over the course of his career which could be down to poor technique or even overconfidence.

If he was more clinical from the spot, he'd probably be higher up this list.

Erling Haaland

Haaland will probably be very near the top of this list in a few years time as his record from the penalty spot has been pretty good and is only going to score even more.

He always aims for the corners when taking a penalty and hits the ball with enough pace and power so it can end up in the back of the net and make it difficult for keepers to keep out.

He had a brilliant record from the spot when he was at Dortmund as he missed just 2 of the 13 penalties he took during his time there and he's carried that with him to Man City as he's scored 26 out of 32 of the penalties he's taken.

He's got a brilliant record from the Norway as well as he's all but two of the spot kicks he's taken for his country.

Lionel Messi

Messi would normally be in the at the least the top two of any other list because of the magnificent player he's been and still is.

But with this top 10 being about penalties, I had to put him lower down because he has missed a lot of penalties throughout his career and some big ones too.

His record from the spot is still impressive though as he's scored a total of 114 penalties for both club and country and when he takes a penalty, he is composed, keeps a cool head and deals with the pressure of taking one very well because he's used to dealing with high pressured situations.

He usually takes a slow run up as he doesn't want to rush it and when he strikes the ball, he always aims for corners and mostly the bottom corner.

But he has missed some big ones as I mentioned earlier including the Champions League semi final against Chelsea for Barcelona, where his spot kick went against the crossbar, and the 2016 Copa America final against Chile, where he blazed it over the crossbar.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo has been reliable from the penalty spot for the whole of his career because of the confidence he has in himself to score a penalty.

He strikes the ball with enough power and low when he takes a penalty and he aims the ball either in the corners or straight down the middle.

He's scored 151 goals from the penalty spot for both Portugal and the clubs he played for in Europe which is a very good record and more than any other player.

But he has also missed a lot of penalties over the course of his career and on big occasions too including the 2008 Champions League final for Man United against Chelsea and at the 2018 World Cup for Portugal when he missed against Iran.

Harry Kane

Kane's record from the penalty spot is incredible as he's scored a total of 98 goals from the spot for both club and country.

Whenever you see him line up to take a penalty, you just know he's going to score because he's composed, calm, keeps his cool and strikes the ball with power.

Whenever he takes a penalty, he usually goes for the corners as most players should do when taking a penalty so he can make it difficult for the keeper to save it.

There have been one of two occasions where he lost his composure including by skying it over the bar with his miss against France for England at the 2022 World Cup being an example of that.

But most of the time, he's usually a reliable player from the spot.

Bruno Fernandes

Fernandes has been one of the best penalty takers in Europe over the last five to six seasons because whenever he steps up to take one he usually scores and rarely misses.

He has that famous hop and skip technique which has served him well throughout his career and whenever he takes a penalty, he always aims the ball for the corners as most takers should do.

His record from the spot since he's been at Man United is superb as the majority of the goals he's scored have come from the penalty spot and is usually reliable whenever he takes a penalty.

Robert Lewandowski

Lewandowski has been precise from the spot all his career by targeting the corners as the place to aim the ball and using his technique to fool the keeper with his stutter and pause routine.

He's scored a total of 89 goals from the spot over the course of his career and his conversion rate has been right up there among the best in Europe.

He has missed the odd penalty as some players do and that has often been the case since he's been at Barcelona as he has missed quite a few.

But most of the time he steps up to take one, he's usually reliable because he knows where he wants to place the ball and his spot kicks are more often than not accurate.

Yaya Toure

Toure had to be my no.1 because he was always reliable from the spot and never missed a single penalty in his entire career.

Man City was the only club where he took penalties and he had a 100% record from the spot by scoring all 14 of the penalties he took in all competitions.

He always went for the corners when taking a penalty and he always hit the ball with enough power so it could end up in the back of the net.

As a penalty taker he was composed, calm, kept his cool and always knew where to put the ball whenever he took one.

MY TOP 10: