Real Madrid came away with an excellent 3-0 win over Manchester City on Wednesday night, setting them in good stead to qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals off the back of Fede Valverde’s hat-trick. It could have been an even greater advantage to take to the Etihad next week though.
Most of the second half Real Madrid dedicated to halting Manchester City’s advances, but they did escape on the counter-attack, and ten minutes into the second period, Vinicius Junior was brought down by Gianluigi Donnarumma. It was the Brazilian, with a number of stars missing, who stepped up to take responsibility for the penalty.
Vinicius’ penalty record
Vinicius shot low to his right, but Donnarumma read it, and kept City’s slim hopes in the tie alive as a result. Valverde later revealed that he had been offered the penalty by Vinicius, but declined to take it. That perhaps was a hint at Vinicius’ less than stellar record from the penalty spot. MD explain that this was his fourth miss in 14 attempts for Real Madrid. It puts his conversion rate at 71.43%, the lowest of any regular Real Madrid penalty taker in the 21st century, taking players who have at least 10 attempts.
Kylian Mbappe has also missed four penalties
Taking that base line, there have been seven players including Vinicius who done so in the last 26 years for Real Madrid. The highest conversion rate is Sergio Ramos (95.65%), who missed just one of his 23 attempts. He is followed in the podium by Karim Benzema (32/27, 86.49%), and Cristiano Ronaldo (79/90, 87.78%).
Kylian Mbappe, who is the regular taker this season for Real Madrid when fit, has also missed four, but from his 23 attempts, giving him a conversion rate of (82.61%). Luis Figo scored 31 of his 37 (83.78%), while Ruud van Nistlerooy has the second-lowest conversation rate (73.33%), missing four of his 15 efforts.
Once back from injury, Mbappe is likely to take over penalty duties again. The Frenchman is now clearly the star with top billing at the Bernabeu, and as such the responsibility falls on him. Los Blancos no longer have the guarantees from the spot as they did in the days of Ronaldo and Ramos though.
