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Master's Of Penalty Takers by LORDKing001: 11:14am On Dec 15, 2017 |
Former
Southampton FC's Rickie Lambert is being
acclaimed in England after converting his
32nd penalty in a row for the club – a better
record even than club legend Matthew Le
Tissier, credited as England's best ever
penalty taker with 48 conversions from 49
attempts in his career.
Lambert missed from the spot for some of his
previous clubs, but the Liverpudlian has been
brilliant since joining the Saints. "I'm not
counting," said the 31-year-old, who spent
four months putting lids on jars of beetroot to
earn a living after being released by
Blackpool FC aged 19 but recently scored on
his England debut against Scotland. "I'm
always confident taking a pen and hopefully
that will continue."
UEFA.com celebrates some ten more
masters from the penalty spot, past and
present.
Matthew Le Tissier (England, 1986-2002)
A hero for Southampton, 'Le God' was one of
Xavi Hernández's childhood heroes, though
more for his brilliantly nonchalant dribbling
skills than his extraordinary record from the
penalty spot. He famously missed just one
penalty in a reported 49 career attempts,
explaining his technique simply: "I stuck it in
the corner, and if the keeper went the right
way it was hard enough to beat him."
Ivan Krstanović (Croatia, 2000-present)
The GNK Dinamo Zagreb forward has by all
accounts never missed a penalty in his
career, assuring UEFA.com that "it's at least
30 goals". After scoring in a 1-1 UEFA
Champions League draw against FC Dynamo
Kyiv last season, he said: "Everyone keeps
asking me to reveal my secret but, if I told
everyone my technique it wouldn't be a
secret any more, would it?"
Davor Šuker (Croatia, 1984-2003)
Another masterful Croatian penalty-taker,
Davor Šuker definitely missed two penalties
in his career but has lost count of how many
he scored, with calmness crucial to his
technique, as shown in the 1998 FIFA World
Cup when he was asked to retake a penalty
against Romania. "I took an extra second and
I checked my pulse," he said. "I wasn't
scared." He converted both efforts.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, 2002-present)
The striker hit a purple patch at Real Madrid
CF, converting 24 in a row before missing in
the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League semi-
final shoot-out against FC Bayern München.
"A player who takes a penalty is a player
without fear," said his former coach José
Mourinho, adding: "The best players, such as
Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, also fail.
Football is like that – that's life."
Hans-Joachim Abel (Germany, 1972-84)
Lothar Matthäus missed three from 30, and
Manfred Kaltz scored 53 out of 60, but
Fortuna Düsseldorf, VfL Bochum 1848 and FC
Schalke 04 striker Abel is statistically the
Bundesliga's best, reportedly converting all
16 of his spot-kicks. "The most important
thing is total concentration," he said. "You've
got to block out everything else and if you do,
the goalkeeper shouldn't have a chance."
Dmitri Kirichenko (Russia, 1994-present)
The striker began a run of 21 straight
conversions at FC Rostselmash in 2000,
maintaining it with PFC CSKA Moskva and FC
Moskva before missing for the first time at
the 22nd attempt for FC Saturn Moskovskaya
Oblast in 2009. "That was annoying,"
reflected 36-year-old, whose record now
stands at 26 goals from 27 attempts. "The
goalkeeper was two or three metres off his
line before I hit it."
Ovidiu Herea (Romania, 2003-present)
"Ever since I started my professional career,
I have spent at least an hour after training
practicing penalties," said Herea. However,
the 27-year-old's record of 19 conversions
from 19 for FC Național București and FC
Rapid București might have ended last year
when Răzvan Pleșca (his former Național
team-mate) saved his effort against CS Gaz
Metan Mediaș, only for the referee to order a
retake – which the midfielder put away.
David Villa (Spain, 1999-present)
Deadly from the penalty spot with Real
Sporting de Gijón, Real Zaragoza and Valencia
CF, David Villa scored 31 of his 33 Liga
penalties, but the 31-year-old did not take a
top-flight spot kick for FC Barcelona, though
he continues to do so for Spain. After nine
months out with a broken leg, he returned to
action by netting a penalty in a friendly win
against Saudi Arabia in September 2012. "It's
good to be back," he said afterwards.
Ledio Pano (Albania, 1986-2001)
Midfielder Pano boasted a 100% record in
over 50 penalties in his career in Albania and
Greece, with one-time FK Partizani team-
mate Niko Frasheri noting: "We had faith in
him. His precision with those shots was
second to none." Pano, who spent hours
practicing penalties after training sessions,
added: "I never looked the keeper in the eye.
I always just knew where I was going to put
the ball."
Vladislav Stoyanov (Bulgaria, 1982-1994)
Stoyanov scored 24 from 24 top-flight
penalties in the 1980s and 1990s with PFC
Chernomorets Burgas and PFC Lokomotiv
Sofia though he admitted "I missed one for
Chernomorets in the second division". Now
Bulgaria Under-19 coach, he told UEFA.com:
"Usually I looked at the goalkeeper to see at
which way he would go and slightly delayed
my kick. That usually worked, but if in doubt I
also had my favourite spot to hit my
penalties." |
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