Cristiano Ronaldo had the chance to open the scoring from the penalty spot during the match between Portugal and Denmark in the second leg of the UEFA Nations League quarterfinals, but his shot was saved. So, we compare his conversion rate with Lionel Messi’s.
According to MessivsRonaldo.app, Ronaldo has missed 32 penalties out of 205 attempts, having scored 173. That gives him a conversion rate of 84.8%. Meanwhile, Messi has scored 109 out of 140 penalties (77.9%), missing 31. However, one of those misses was a deliberate pass to Luis Suarez.
It’s also worth noting that these stats don’t include penalty shootouts. In shootouts, both Messi and Ronaldo have scored 11 out of 13 attempts, with an identical success rate of 84.6%.
Ronaldo’s penalty record is impressive, but some other top strikers from his generation have even higher conversion rates, such as Robert Lewandowski at 91%, Harry Kane at 86%, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic at 85%.
Biggest penalty misses for Messi and Ronaldo
Despite their strong records, both players have missed crucial penalties for club and country. For Ronaldo, one notable miss was the first penalty in the shootout between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in the 2011-12 Champions League semifinals, which Madrid eventually lost. He also missed a penalty in the 2008 Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea, though United went on to win 6-5.
As for Messi, some of his most painful misses include the penalty against Chelsea in the second leg of the 2011-12 Champions League semifinals, a match Barcelona ultimately lost. On the international stage, he missed a penalty in the 2016 Copa America final against Chile, after which he briefly announced his retirement from the national team, a decision he reversed just 66 days later, to the relief of Argentina fans.
Ronaldo later scored against Denmark
Despite Ronaldo’s miss, the Portuguese star was able to find the net in the second half of the match. He scored his 136th goal for his national team, as well as his 929th goal in all his career.