Was Mario Balotelli right to feel so confident?
Mario Balotelli confidently took on the responsibility of converting a late penalty for Liverpool, despite the protestations of his teammates, but was the Liverpool striker right to be so sure of himself?
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Here we rank the top penalty takers in Europe’s top five leagues since 2009/10 based on their success rate from twelve yards.
5th- Leighton Baines (Everton) 93.3%
The Everton full-back’s only miss from 15 attempts came at Old Trafford this season, when his effort was saved by David de Gea. He was involved in a similar incident to last night’s controversy, when Kevin Mirallas took the responsibility from Baines against West Brom in January. Unfortunately for Mirallas, he missed.
4th- Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 93.6%
Cristiano Ronaldo has taken an incredible 47 penalties since 2009, missing just three. But his most famous miss came against Chelsea in the 2008 Champions League Final. Luckily for the former Manchester United striker, it didn’t prove costly as John Terry and Nicolas Anelka missed for Chelsea.
3rd- Dimitar Berbatov (Monaco) 100%
The Bulgarian has converted all 10 of all his efforts from the spot, having played for Manchester United, Fulham and Monaco in that time. The striker is known for his calm and relaxed demeanour, the ideal attribute to combat the pressure of a penalty.
2nd- Ryad Boudebouz (Bastia) 100%
The Algerian international is certainly the least known name of the list, but the midfielder has scored 15 out of 15 from the spot. Four of the Boudebouz’s five goals this season have come from penalties.
1st- Eden Hazard (Chelsea) 100%
The Chelsea winger has scored seventeen successive penalties since 2009, the last of which was the opening goal in January’s league match against Liverpool at Anfield. While he has never missed a Premier League spot kick, he has missed twice in the UEFA Champions League – against FC Nordsjaelland in December 2012, and against Maribor in November 2014.
19th- Mario Balotelli (Liverpool) 87.5%
The striker has missed of his 16 penalties since 2009, but last night’s goal meant that he now has the same success rate as his captain, Steven Gerrard.