Lionel Messi celebrated wildly after scoring Argentina’s second goal against Egypt. He was seen sprinting toward the stands, leaping with joy. The Argentine star is not usually seen celebrating a goal with such intensity.
So what happened that day? There was certainly the joy of fighting back from a two-goal deficit to level the match. After the game, Messi said scoring that goal brought him some relief. After missing a penalty in the first half, Messi reportedly thought he might have single-handedly sunk his team.
Egyptian goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir dove to save his penalty shot. This wasn’t the first such incident for him at this World Cup — he also failed to score from the spot against Austria earlier in the tournament. Many are now asking: is Messi really that bad at penalties?
That question isn’t easy to answer directly. But the statistics offer some insight. Missing two consecutive penalties isn’t new for Messi — this marks the third time in his two-decade career that he has missed back-to-back spot kicks.
This time, however, the timing has drawn more attention. He missed two penalties within just 15 days — none of his previous back-to-back misses came this close together.
Messi first hit a major penalty drought in 2014, missing three consecutive spot kicks that year. On April 5 of that year, Antonio Adan saved his shot in a La Liga win for Barcelona over Real Betis.
A few months later, on September 21, he missed another penalty in a big win over Levante. Then on October 11, in an Argentina match, Brazilian goalkeeper Jefferson saved his shot, completing a run of three consecutive missed penalties.
Even during that stretch, Messi did score from the spot — but in a shootout. He converted his penalty against the Netherlands in the 2014 World Cup semifinal shootout. Argentina went on to the final but lost to Germany.
Messi hit another penalty drought in 2021. On March 10 that year, Keylor Navas saved his penalty for Barcelona against PSG in the Champions League. Fifty-three days later, Valencia’s Jasper Cillessen saved another penalty in La Liga, though Messi scored on the rebound that time.
The third such stretch has come at this World Cup. Despite missing two penalties within 15 days, against Austria and Egypt, Messi remains in excellent form. With eight goals in five matches, he remains the tournament’s top scorer, and his career tally of 21 World Cup goals remains the highest in the competition’s history.
Argentina’s overall penalty record at the World Cup isn’t particularly favorable. Of eight penalties awarded to them at the tournament, four have been missed. Messi also holds the record for most penalties missed at a World Cup, and the record for most penalties missed by a player in a single World Cup edition — two.
Despite the World Cup setbacks, Messi’s overall penalty record is far from poor. Across his career, he has taken 161 penalties, scoring 125, with 27 saved and nine sent wide or over. Overall, Messi has converted 77.64% of his penalties.
At Barcelona, he scored 82 of 107 penalties. At PSG, he scored 3 of 4. At Inter Miami, he has scored 8 of 9. For the Argentina national team, in regular time, he has scored 25 of 32 penalties. Messi will surely be hoping not to miss another penalty at this World Cup.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report