Lionel Messi was once shown a yellow card for an illegal penalty

Lionel Messi has scored 109 penalties in his career, missing 32 to end up with a success rate of 77%. It's not an exaggeration to say that the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner is better at free-kicks than penalties.

However, Messi does often look for creative solutions from the spot. For instance, he memorably came up with a genius routine when he passed the ball to Luis Suarez against Celta Vigo in 2016 instead of shooting on goal.

And in 2011, his innovative penalty against AC Milan earned him a yellow card. With the score at 1-1 in the Champions League game at the San Siro, Barca were awarded a spot-kick and Messi stepped up.

But as he approached the ball, Messi stopped dead during his run-up and then slotted past Christian Abbiati.

The Rossoneri players protested straight away and Wolfgang Stark, the man in the middle, booked Messi as well as enforcing a re-take.

A year prior, the IFAB tweaked a penalty-taking rule and so because Messi did the dummy after he completed his run-up, his penalty was deemed illegal.

At the second attempt, Messi was taking no risks whatsoever and promptly slammed the ball into the opposite corner. Christian Abbiati guessed right but the power and placement was too much to handle.

At the age of 17, Paul Pogba did the exact same thing as Messi during an FA Youth Cup game with Liverpool at Anfield in 2011 but the Frenchman experienced further embarrassment.

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He took an age to approach the ball but despite coolly slotting home, referee David Coote deemed his fake shot - which fooled the goalkeeper midway through his run-up - to be an infringement and booked the midfielder.

He was already on a yellow card and was subsequently given his marching orders. Larnell Cole then retook the second penalty and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way before Ravel Morrison struck twice to give United a massive 3-2 win in a game where four players saw red.

Featured Image Credit: YouTube

Topics: Lionel Messi, Barcelona, Premier League

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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