Legendary penalty misses. What’s more epic: Baggio’s at the World Cup or Terry’s in the Champions League final?
Anatoly Romanov July 17, 2024, 08:30 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
There are only footballers who missed the target. No goalkeeper saves.
One of the most legendary misses in penalty shoot-outs is exactly 30 years old. On 17 July 1994, Roberto Baggio missed the decisive penalty for Brazil in the World Cup final and his Italy lost the gold. Have there been more famous and dramatic penalty misses in the history of football? Let’s remember the most epic ones. We emphasize that this rating includes only the kicks after which the ball did not hit the target: it flew over or over the goal, hit the post or the crossbar (without any saves by the goalkeeper).
Who disappointed the most at the Euros?
Classification
The biggest disappointment of Euro 2024: Ronaldo, Mbappé or entire teams?
Take part in the vote and choose the penalty you remember the most. We have selected the 10 most famous missed 11-meter shots for the ranking. Share your opinion in the comments.
Penalties will be distributed by place during the voting process. The rating depends entirely on the votes of the “Championship” readers and is formed online.
If you want to move an option up in the list, press the up arrow “ ↑ If you think the option should be lower, press the down arrow “↓”.
Important: The “Ranking” feature only works in the regular version of the “Championship”. If you accessed this material through the search page, you will only see the generated list without voting buttons.
Ranking: What is the most legendary penalty shoot-out mistake?
Photo: Neal Simpson/EMPICS via Getty Images
Roberto Baggio (Italy national team) in the 1994 World Cup final
At the 1994 World Cup, Baggio was one of the stars of the Italian national team and of the entire tournament. Before the final, Roberto scored five goals, all in the playoffs, just one goal behind the top scorers: Russian Oleg Salenko and Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov. But the decisive match with Brazil ended in a goalless draw, so the winner of the World Cup was determined by a penalty shootout. Before Baggio, Franco Baresi and Daniele Massaro failed to convert their attempts for the Squadra Azzurri, and Marcio Santos failed to convert his attempts for the Seleçao. If Roberto missed, Brazil would become world champions. And the legendary Juventus striker, nicknamed the Divine Ponytail, trembled: he shot from the “spot” over the goal. It was a real tragedy for the great maestro.
Recalling that episode, Baggio wrote in his autobiography: “I knew that [голкипер] Taffarel is always guessing, so he decided to shoot in the middle, about halfway up, so he couldn’t reach the ball with his feet. It was a smart decision, because Taffarel moved to his left and would never have deflected my shot. Unfortunately, and I don’t know why, the ball went up three meters and went over the crossbar.
Photo: Adam Davy – PA Images via Getty Images
John Terry (Chelsea) in the Champions League final – 2007/2008
The 2008 Champions League final in Moscow turned out to be an English one. Manchester United and Chelsea made it to the decisive match in Luzhniki. Cristiano Ronaldo put the Mancunians ahead, and Frank Lampard pulled the goal back. Neither team scored any more shots from the field. In the penalty shoot-out, Ronaldo was the first to miss, while the other takers were calm and accurate. The last in Chelsea’s top five was captain Terry. If John had scored, the Londoners would have taken the trophy. However, the defender slipped while taking the shot and sent the ball wide of the goal. And for Roman Abramovich’s club it all ended sadly. Then Nicolas Anelka lost the duel to Edwin van der Sar: Manchester United took the Champions League Cup.
Photo: Ben Radford/Getty Images
David Beckham (England national team) in the Euro 2004 quarter-finals
England have never won the European Championship, but they had everything they needed to win gold at Euro 2004. In the quarter-finals, England faced the Portuguese hosts, with Cristiano Ronaldo playing in his first major tournament. The match in Lisbon ended in a 2-2 draw. A penalty shoot-out was needed. England’s first kick was taken by their star midfielder Beckham. David ran and… sent the ball into the stands at the Estádio da Luz. I couldn’t cope with my nerves. Then Portugal’s Rui Costa failed to score and England’s Darius Vassell made the decisive mistake. But everyone still remembers Beckham’s failure.
Photo: PA Images via Getty Images
David Trezeguet (France national team) in the 2006 World Cup final
The French and Italian national teams reached the final of the 2006 World Cup. The “golden” match was played in Berlin, in the same Olympic Stadium that recently hosted the final of Euro 2024. They played on July 9, one year and four days before Lamin Yamal was born. The match went down in history primarily for the dismissal of Zinedine Zidane, who hit Marco Materazzi. Both participants in the match scored a goal and after 120 minutes the score was 1:1. And in the penalty shootout only one player missed out of nine takers. The French national team striker Trezeguet, who played in Italy for Juventus, hit the crossbar. Thus, the Squadra Azzurri won the series even without Gianluigi Buffon’s saves.
Photo: Alexander Hassenstein – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Juanfran (Atlético de Madrid) in the Champions League final – 2015/2016
In the 2015/2016 Champions League final in Milan, two Madrid teams faced each other: Atlético and Real Madrid. Sergio Ramos scored an early goal, then Antoine Griezmann hit the crossbar from the penalty spot, but Diego Simeone’s team recovered thanks to Yannick Ferreira Carrasco. The derby ended in a draw, so the Champions League winner was determined in a penalty shoot-out. Everyone executed their shots flawlessly, even Griezmann corrected his mistake. But Atlético’s last goal was thwarted by Juanfran. The defender shot from the penalty spot onto the post. Years later, Juanfran admitted that Carrasco should have taken that kick, but the Belgian refused to take his turn. And he took the initiative. In vain.
Photo: AMA/Corbis via Getty Images
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) in the Champions League semi-finals – 2011/2012
In the Champions League semi-finals of the 2011/2012 season, Bayern and Real Madrid were defeated. The Munich team won the first match at home 2-1, and in the return match in Madrid the “creamy” team won with the same score. The penalty shoot-out became a nightmare for the kickers. Of the nine players who took shots, only four scored. Toni Kroos and Philipp Lahm of Bayern and Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka of Real Madrid were unlucky. Their shots were stopped by the goalkeeper’s saves. And the most memorable was Sergio Ramos’s mistake. The white defender decided to shoot under the crossbar and sent the ball over the goal. Ramos was hated, but he withstood the pressure, promised to score the goal next time and did so at Euro 2012.
Photo: Tom Honan/EMPICS via Getty Images
Luigi Di Biagio (Italy national team) in the quarterfinals of the 1998 World Cup
The 1998 World Cup, like the previous one in 1994, ended with a penalty shoot-out for the Italian national team. Only in the quarter-finals, not in the final. The match against the hosts and future world champions, the French, at the Stade de France ended in a 0-0 draw, so they had to take penalty kicks. Curiously, the first player to score for the Italian national team was Roberto Baggio, who four years earlier had missed the decisive penalty in the final against Brazil. Baggio completed the gestalt: he scored from the spot. But the Italian team was let down by others. First, Demetrio Albertini missed, and the fifth shot was missed by Di Biagio: the midfielder hit the crossbar.
Photo: Sports Illustrated via Getty Images
Lionel Messi (Argentina national team) in the final of the 2016 Copa America
Messi didn’t have a tournament win with Argentina (if we leave aside the 2008 Olympics) until he won the 2021 Copa America with the national team. He wouldn’t have had to wait that long if the Argentines had won one of the two finals against Chile in 2015 or 2016. But the Albiceleste lost both finals on penalties. If in the 2015 Copa, Messi scored the first shot of the series and the rest didn’t score, in the 2016 Copa, it was the other way around. Leo again took the first shot for the Argentines and sent the ball over the goal. After that failure, Messi left the national team for a while, only to return triumphantly.
Photo: ullstein bild via Getty Images
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern) in the Champions League final – 2011/2012
The 2012 Champions League final at home was a real drama for Bayern. Jupp Heynckes’ team came close to lifting the trophy. Thomas Müller opened the scoring with 10 minutes remaining, but Didier Drogba saved Chelsea. In extra time, Bayern won a penalty, but Arjen Robben lost the duel with goalkeeper Petr Cech. The penalty shoot-out began for the Londoners with a mistake by Juan Mata, but the English team again got out of a difficult situation. First, Ivica Olic failed to score against Bayern, Cech did so again. And the fifth shot for the home team was taken by Schweinsteiger. Bastián made a short run and hit the post. Thus, Chelsea won the Champions League for the first time in their history.
Photo: Alliance Images via Getty Images
Uli Hoenes (German national team) in the final of Euro 1976
The 1976 European Championship had its own legendary penalty shoot-out. It went down in history primarily as a “Panenka”. However, that series had not only a main character, but also an antihero. The final between the national teams of Germany (West Germany) and Czechoslovakia in Belgrade at the local Maracanã was productive: the teams scored two goals each. In addition, the Germans fought back 0-2. In the penalty shoot-out, everyone converted their attempts, until Uli Hoenes, who came in eighth place, broke the streak. Now the honorary president of Bayern, but then a player of the Munich club threw the ball too high. After that, Antonin Panenka took the ball and went for the “parachute”.
