You stand over the ball knowing that hitting the net means victory. Your nation has never won a major trophy before. You’ve blown a two-goal lead and it’s gone to a penalty shootout against West Germany. Imagine being the first man to ever attempt such a spot kick, then imagine it’s the 1976 European Championship final. One thing is for sure though, when it comes off, you’re a genius. When someone cheekily dinks their penalty now we are divided in opinions about whether it’s class or arrogance. Yet you’ve all heard of the Panenka penalty. Two Austrian league titles and three domestic cups won in the same country hardly scream ‘legend’. Puskas was dubbed the greatest goal scorer of the twentieth century and 70 out of 73 penalties isn’t a bad record either.ħ3 Scored: 70 Success Rate: 95.9% 8.
His trophy haul makes impressive reading too with 10 league titles, three European Cup wins and Olympic Gold. His career boasted an incredible 598 goals in just 618 games – 84 of those strikes coming at international level. When the award for the best goal of the year is named in your honour then it’s fair to say you were pretty special. On this occasion, though van Basten served up one of just three missed penalties with Peter Schmeichel keeping his effort out. He didn’t miss many spot kicks and four years later when Frank Rijkaard grabbed a late winner against Denmark in the Euros semi-finals the stage looked set for the Dutch to march on again. The younger generation know him as the scorer of that wonder volley he bagged against the Soviet Union in the 1988 European Championships as Holland won 2-0 to lift the trophy. The older generation know van Basten as the complete player technically gifted, formidable in the air and a goal scorer. Oh no, these are the top 10 penalty takers of all time.įor the purposes of clarity, only players who have taken 25 or more spot kicks are included. Not where these guys are concerned though. It’s no wonder that 25% of penalties end up getting missed. Then it all falls silent and it becomes a game of nerve between you and the keeper. The stadium split between fans nervously cheering you on whilst the others bay for blood hoping they can get in your head.
Stepping up to the spot is surely one of the most nerve-racking moments of a footballer’s career.
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