It's a shared view tha Lionel Messi isn't too great a penalty taker. 76.85 per cent is the Argentine ace's conversion rate, with 83 scored and 25 missed in his career.
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.
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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. Abbiati guessed right but the power and placement was too much to handle.
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In September, the five-time Ballon d'Or revealed that he wanted to improve his penalty-taking abilities and says it's more difficult than many think.
"The penalties. I'd like to be more effective," he replied when asked what he plans to improve on by CatRadio journalist Ricard Torquemada.
"It's very difficult. It's not the same to practice them as it is to take them in a game. There are a lot of other factors at play."
"You can have a plan or have an idea about what to do, but when the moment comes it's much more difficult to do it than it looks.
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"Today's goalkeepers save some penalties that the ones in the past wouldn't have. But, yeah, this is a thing that I'd like to be better at."
A 17-year old Paul Pogba did the exact same thing as Messi during an FA Youth Cup game with Liverpool at Anfield seven years ago but the Frenchman experienced further embarrassment.
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.
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And so Pogba, already on a yellow, 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:Topics: Football News, FC Barcelona, Football, Lionel Messi, AC Milan, Penalty
