How Lionel Messi performs penalties

Before scoring a double against Austria, Messi was unsuccessful in his penalty and that was the 3rd time he failed in 7 encounters with the goalkeeper from a penalty spot at the World Cup. With a special factor like Messi, free kicks or penalties are also a topic of research for experts and international newspapers.

2 11m kicks

According to FIFA's analysis in 2022, every penalty kick of Messi has a common starting point, with a short warm-up distance, only 4 to 5 steps. Until the time of the shot, Messi applies 2 techniques: "reading" the goalkeeper's movement and powerful shots with extremely high ball speed.

The first and most frequent way Messi uses in nerve-wracking penalty shootouts is the technique of shooting with the sole of his foot. With this way of playing, Messi will choose an inclined runway angle to expand the hip width. The special thing lies in vision. Messi does not look at the ball but locks his eyes tightly into every small movement of the opponent's goalkeeper when approaching the ball. He waits for the opponent to fall first and then gently puts the ball snugly into the opposite corner.

Speed data shows that these foot-in-the-foot shots are quite weak, only ranging from 40 to 75km/h, but reaching maximum danger. Typical examples are the goals that brought the ball to the bottom left corner, helping Argentina overcome the Netherlands and France at the 2022 World Cup.

The second is the technique of shooting with the back of the foot. When facing goalkeepers who are physically fit or have a habit of standing firmly until the last second, Messi will switch to a straighter running angle. Instead of observing the goalkeeper, he focuses his eyes completely on the ball to ensure the most perfect contact point. Messi's back foot shot does not seek deception but thoroughly exploits power and speed, causing the ball to break through the 100km/h mark towards the upper right corner. This windbreaking speed makes goalkeepers, even if they guess the right direction, almost have no chance to save.

Bravery when fighting wits

Despite possessing a very high penalty conversion rate in his career, tremendous pressure in major playgrounds such as the World Cup sometimes still causes Messi to make mistakes. Data extracts typical missed opportunities of him at world finals, from low-angle shots on the right that were blocked at the 2018 World Cup (against Iceland), 2026 World Cup (against Austria), to cannon shots with the back of the foot pointing at the high angle on the right that were pushed out by Polish goalkeeper Szczęsny at the 2022 World Cup.

International newspapers analyze that world-class goalkeepers always use the method of early prediction using kinetic information. They will look at Messi's warm-up angle and hip opening direction at about 160-80 milliseconds before touching the ball to decide to fly to the fullest extent according to intuition. When knowing Messi shoots with the back of his foot and does not look at himself, the goalkeeper will proactively dive early and have the opportunity to touch the ball if the flight path is at mid or high altitude.

Therefore, to maintain unpredictability, Messi constantly has to swap and fine-tune between these 2 techniques to confuse the opponent's information. Besides, the psychological factor plays a decisive role. Coach Lionel Scaloni always places absolute trust when arranging Messi to take the first penalty kick in the penalty shootouts. Research from FIFA shows that the captain's successful opening kick not only relieves psychological pressure for the whole team, but also deals a powerful brain blow to the confidence of the opponent's goalkeeper.