Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski have scored the most penalties (19) in Champions League history. Here, we look at penalty records for Europe’s elite club competition.
Who has taken the most penalties in Champions League history? Who has scored the most? Who has missed the most? And who has saved the most?
We are here to reveal the answers to these questions.
Note: these records do not include penalties taken in shootouts.
Who Has Taken the Most Penalties?
Lionel Messi: 23Cristiano Ronaldo: 22Robert Lewandowski: 20Sergio Agüero: 15Ruud van Nistelrooy: 14
It won’t come as much of a surprise given their longevity in the game and quality to see Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo featuring prominently in most of these categories.
But to answer the question, no one has stepped up to take more penalties in Champions League history than Messi, ending his career in Europe just one ahead of his rival.
In third for penalty takers is Robert Lewandowski, who’s probably the only player in with a realistic chance of overtaking Messi and Ronaldo at the moment. The Barcelona striker has taken 20 so far.
A special mention goes to Timo Werner, who has taken the most penalties in Champions League history without ever missing one. He may not have shown his best form in England, but the former RB Leipzig attacker has a perfect conversion rate from the spot in the Champions League, netting six out of six.
Who Has Scored the Most Penalties?
Robert Lewandowski: 19Cristiano Ronaldo: 19Lionel Messi: 18Harry Kane: 11Sergio Agüero: 11
Lewandowski and Ronaldo lead the way here with 19 apiece, but it is the Pole who has the most impressive record, having scored a higher proportion of his penalties (95%) than any other player to have taken at least seven, with 19 successes from 20 attempts.
Ronaldo scored 19 from 22 and Messi 18 from 23. Harry Kane will surely move up this list with time, having scored 11 of his 12 attempts at the time of writing.
Who Has Missed the Most Penalties?
Thierry Henry: 5 misses (from 8)Lionel Messi: 5 (from 23)Antoine Griezmann: 4 (from 8)Sergio Agüero: 4 (from 15)Ruud van Nistelrooy: 4 (from 14)
Despite being a supremely talented striker, Thierry Henry had his fair share of problems from the penalty spot. Famously, he and Robert Pires fluffed an elaborate attempt to pass from one to the other in a Premier League match, but Henry also had his difficulties in the Champions League. In an era when Arsenal often struggled to bring their scintillating domestic form to the European stage, Henry failed to score five of his eight Champions League penalties, giving him a conversion rate of just 37.5%.
Messi missed five but from a far greater number taken (23) than Henry.
Antoine Griezmann has missed four of his eight Champions League penalties to date, while Sergio Agüero failed to convert four of his 15 – more evidence that even the best finishers can come up short from the spot. Ruud van Nistelrooy is the other player to have missed four penalties in the Champions League.
Radamel Falcao, meanwhile, who scored 15 out of 16 penalties in La Liga, gets a mention for the wrong reasons here. He has taken the most Champions League spot-kicks of any player never to have scored one, unsuccessful with all three of his attempts from the spot in the competition.
Who Has Saved the Most Penalties?
Andrii Pyatov: 5Joe Hart: 5Marc-André ter Stegen: 4Gianluigi Buffon: 4Gregory Coupet: 4
Many of the game’s great goalkeepers have graced the Champions League over the years, but it’s two slightly less-fashionable stoppers topping the list for penalty saves. One of them is Andrii Pyatov, who saved five spot-kicks during his time with Shakhtar Donetsk. His record there is undoubtedly helped by the fact he faced 17 through the years.
Only Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas has faced more penalties (23) than Pyatov, though the Spaniard’s saves record was more modest, saving three.
Joe Hart is level on five penalty saves with Pyatov. His record is especially impressive considering he only ever faced nine in the competition, giving him an incredible save success rate at penalties of 55.6%.
Behind Pyatov and Hart we find more celebrated names such as Gianluigi Buffon and Grégory Coupet (four penalty saves each). Barcelona’s Marc-André ter Stegen may fancy his chances of going level with and perhaps even beyond Pyatov and Hart by the end of his career, having also saved four penalties.
The most penalties a goalkeeper has faced without being beaten is two; Greece legend Antonis Nikopolidis faced up to a couple for Olympiakos and saved both.
Three goalkeepers have managed two penalty saves in the same match. Buffon was the first to do so – for Parma against Borussia Dortmund in 1997 – with both spot-kicks conceded by Fabio Cannavaro for fouls on Andreas Möller. Stéphane Chapuisat was unsuccessful with the first and Möller himself missed the second. Hans-Jörg Butt, perhaps more famous for scoring three penalties in his Champions League career (more on that later), also saved two for Bayern Munich against Bordeaux in 2009.
And finally, Silvio Proto had a very eventful game for Anderlecht against Olympiakos in 2013. The Belgian saved two penalties in a 3-1 defeat to the Greek side, but after having made those two saves, he got himself a red card (their third dismissal of the evening) for giving away a third spot-kick in the game. Striker Aleksandar Mitrović replaced Proto in goal for the stoppage-time penalty but couldn’t emulate his goalkeeper as Alejandro Domínguez netted Olympiakos’ third.
Who Has Won the Most Penalties?
Lionel Messi: 13Robert Lewandowski: 9Ruud van Nistelrooy: 9Cristiano Ronaldo: 7Karim Adeyemi: 6Arjen Robben: 6Sergio Agüero: 6
The list of those who have won the most penalties is obviously full of forwards, and Messi (13) sits far ahead of his nearest rivals after going past Van Nistelrooy (9), who was at the top of this ranking from 2002 until 2020.
Messi won three of his penalties against Manchester City, a joint-record against one single opponent along with Karim Adeyemi, who has won three against Sevilla across games with Borussia Dortmund and Salzburg.
Who Has Conceded the Most Penalties?
Nicolás Otamendi: 6Pepe: 5Clément Lenglet: 4Dani Carvajal: 4Lúcio: 4Casemiro: 4Tomas Galásek: 4Naldo: 4
Perhaps unsurprisingly, former Real Madrid enforcer Pepe held the record for the most spot-kicks conceded in the history of the Champions League for a few years until 2023-24. The Portuguese centre-back went clear at the top with his fifth concession when he fouled Raheem Sterling while playing for Porto against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the 2020-21 group stage.
He’s since, however, been overtaken by Nicolás Otamendi, with the Argentinian centre-back having conceded six penalties across spells with Man City, Porto and Benfica.
Our Favourite Fact
Goalkeeper Hans-Jörg Butt has actually scored three penalties and, interestingly, all three have come against Juventus, each in different games while playing for different teams. His first came for Hamburg in September 2000, before he also netted one for Bayer Leverkusen in March 2002 and then for Bayern Munich in December 2009. Butt took four penalties in total in the competition, but missed one in September 2001 against Barcelona when he put the ball wide.
He was clearly committed to only scoring penalties against Juve.
Enjoy this? Subscribe to our new football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
Champions League Penalty Records Opta Analyst.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Champions League Penalty Records )
Also on site :