Lionel Messi has only missed two penalties in his career, although he does not often score from the 11m mark.

Messi is usually quite brave when it comes to penalty shootouts.

Messi is usually quite brave when it comes to penalty shootouts.

According to statistics from Opta , the missed penalty kick in the match against Ecuador in the quarter-finals of Copa America 2024 was only the second time in Messi’s career that he failed in his part of the “shootout”.

At both club and national team level, Messi has participated in 13 penalty shootouts, winning 11 times. Before Copa America 2024, Messi missed a penalty in the final of the tournament in 2016, when Argentina faced Chile.

It was also a penalty kick that Messi regretted a lot because it caused Argentina to miss the chance to win the championship. However, apart from that incident, Messi was always successful when participating in “shootout” series, until he missed the penalty at Copa America 2024.

Messi’s penalty shootout success rate is in stark contrast to the Argentine superstar’s penalty kicking ability during his time on the field.

In his career, Messi has scored 110 goals from 141 penalties to date. The penalty success rate of “El Pulga” is only 79%.

Meanwhile, the average for a professional player in the top 5 European leagues is 83%. Cristiano Ronaldo ‘s penalty success rate is 84%.