If you have ever wondered who has been more successful at penalties between Messi and Ronaldo, or if you want to know which soccer betting options are available for either player, you’ve come to the right place.
Here is a quick look at who has scored more penalties and which of these two players will most likely win the next trophy.
Who is better at penalties, Messi or Ronaldo?
The easiest way to find out who is more successful at taking penalties between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is to look at the statistics because the stats don’t lie.
According to the latest information, Lionel Messi has taken 141 penalties throughout his career and has scored 110 of them, meaning he has a 78.00% success rate. In comparison, Cristiano Ronaldo has taken 207 penalties and scored 175, meaning he has an 84.50% success rate, which settles the debate.
Based on these stats, you could say that Ronaldo is better than Messi at taking players. However, other people might look into things a little deeper to determine exactly why they scored/missed as many as they have.
For example, if you take into account which teams/goalkeepers they took their penalties against, the teams they were playing for at the time, the leagues/competitions they were playing in when they took the penalties, and the importance of the match/penalty, it can change the perspective of these stats.
Who will win the next big trophy?
Cristiano Ronaldo currently plays at domestic club level for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, but the current 2024/25 campaign is coming to an end, with just one game left to play.
In their penultimate game of the season, they beat Al-Khaleej 2-0. Ronaldo missed a penalty in the 65th minute but managed to score a penalty in the 97th minute. At the end of the game, he even apologized to fans for missing the first penalty.
Al-Nassr will likely finish fourth in the league, although there is still a chance that they can finish in third. They also lost 3-2 to Kawasaki in the AFC Champions League final, meaning Ronaldo won’t be winning any silverware this season.
Inter Miami are still competing in the Eastern Conference of the MLS, the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup, and the Leagues Cup, meaning that Messi could potentially win some silverware this year.
There is also still speculation about whether either player will feature at the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup. Ronaldo will be 41 years old when the finals get underway next year in June, and Messi will be 38, so it will also be interesting to see if they are selected to play and how far Argentina and Portugal can go.
Final thoughts
Both players will no doubt continue to contribute to their penalty tallies over the coming 12 months, so Messi could potentially catch Ronaldo up and improve his success rate, but only time will tell. We will just have to wait and see, but for now, Ronaldo is the king when it comes to penalties.