Top 3 Penalty Kings

Mohamed Salah’s penalty for Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup against Chelsea caught the eye on Wednesday night, but where does the Egyptian rank in the best spot kick takers right now?

This is more of a focus on technique than scoring ratio, although some players manage to combine both like our top choice.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus

Ronaldo’s penalty scoring record isn’t as impressive as you might imagine as he has missed 25 of the 141 spot kicks he has taken over his career – but when he gets it right they can be something special. The Portuguese superstar has been doing it throughout his career.

In the 2007/08 season while at Manchester United his stuttering run and powerful strike gave Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann no chance even though the German dived the right way.

This technique marked his penalties in his earlier career at Old Trafford but after moving to Real Madrid he dropped the stop-start run-up and went for power and placement, often with devastating results.  One that particularly stands out came in the 2014/15 season against real’s fierce rivals Barcelona, as he slotted the ball into the bottom corner and sent the keeper the wrong way.

2. Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid

Aside from goalkeepers, everyone loves a good ‘Panenka’ penalty (named after Antonin Panenka, who used the technique to help Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in the Euro 1976 final)  and the true master of this cheeky manoeuvre has to be Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos.

The centre-half does it for both club and country, and even had the audacity to produce one in Spain’s Euro 2012 semi-final win over Portugal. The incredible thing is the keepers facing him must know there’s a good chance he’ll opt for the technique but still they are outfoxed.

3. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool

Salah deserves a mention simply for the style of his penalty against Chelsea on Wednesday.

The Liverpool forward’s arcing run-up bamboozled Kepa in the Blues goal as he sent the Spaniard the wrong way and placed the ball into the bottom corner. Salah has also scored some big penalties for his country, most notably at the death against Congo to send Egypt to the 2018 World Cup.