DECRYPTION – A missed penalty by Mbappé, tweets liked by Neymar… In a few minutes, PSG saw the shadow of a new Penalty Gate hovering over the Parc des Princes on Saturday evening. But what do the numbers say?
According to a study by the Irish Institute Inst published in 2019 and based on more than 90,000 penalties or shots on goal attempted between 2009 and 2018, average percentages give first indications on the scale of world football:
- 75.49% were victorious
- 17.57% were pushed back by the keeper
- 4.07% missed the target
- 2.87% were returned by the bar or an amount
Starting from this mathematical observation, let’s rewind the respective careers of the members of the Parisian “MNM” to thus identify the one who should be – factually – chosen by Christophe Galtier.
Kylian Mbappé, the false impression
In his career, the crack of Bondy has a percentage of 80% of successful penalties with the French team and Paris Saint-Germain. Of his 25 attempts, Mbappé only missed five. Note that he has never tried it in the Monegasque jersey. But then why this negative impression on the number 7 of PSG?
If he did not miss a lot, Kylian Mbappé missed in important matches: against Leipzig in the Champions League in October 2021, against OM in 2019 … The penalty shootout at the Euro against Switzerland is not taken into account in the statistics but is nonetheless symbolic. All of his failures in the Parisian jersey have taken place at home, at the Parc des Princes. The French international often succeeds but misses when the global spotlight is on the game.
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Neymar, the king of discipline
The Brazilian has attempted 85 penalties in his career with Santos, Barcelona, Paris and Brazil. He missed only fifteen, including only three in the PSG jersey (Saint-Etienne in 2019, Brest in 2021 and Nantes in 2022). A very high percentage of more than 82% success since his professional debut, including 90% in Paris out of thirty attempts.
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Beyond his purely mathematical percentages, Neymar has an unparalleled technical quality in the field, notably marked by a very slow run which deceives the anticipation of goalkeepers. Often considered one of the best in the world in the exercise, “the Ney” is indeed the shooter who would make the most sense at PSG …
Lionel Messi, a bad shooter?
What about Lionel Messi in this duel for Parisian penalties? If the football talent of the “Pulga” is no longer to be proven, it does not excel in the field. With Argentina, Barça and PSG, he took a total of 134 penalties and still missed 30. That is a percentage of 74%, slightly below the 75.49% victorious announced by the study of the irish institute Inst published in 2019.
In Paris, Lionel Messi recorded three attempts for a failure, against Real Madrid, during the first leg won (1-0) by the Parisians at the Parc des Princes, in the round of 16 of the Champions League. Mathematically, the logical choice must be Neymar. As the saying goes, the numbers don’t lie.
