Lionel Messi becomes first player in World Cup history to set unwanted penalty record after miss against Egypt

Lionel Messi has set an all-time unwanted record in FIFA World Cup history after he missed a penalty against Egypt in the round of 16 in Atlanta on Tuesday, July 7. Messi, the all-time top-scorer in all FIFA World Cups, missed one from the spot in the 21st minute after Yasser Ibrahim stunned the defending champions to take Egypt 1-0 up. 

The 39-year-old Argentine talisman went to his right from the 12-yard distance, with the Egyptian goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir going the right way and stopping the strike. The fans were shocked to see Messi miss the second penalty in the World Cup and his fourth in all World Cups. Meanwhile, Messi has now become the first-ever player to miss two penalties in a single World Cup edition. He has now missed four penalties, extending his record for



most misses at the global showpiece. He overtook Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan (2) when he missed one against Austria in the group stage.

Messi is the joint leading goal-scorer at this World Cup with seven strikes so far as he is in a race for the Golden Boot. The Argentine legend has 20 goals in the tournament's history, having shattered the all-time record of Miroslav Klose earlier in the group stage in that same Austria game. 

He scored a hat-trick in the opener against Algeria before netting twice against Austria despite having missed the penalty, and then scored once in the last league outing against Jordan in their final group outing. Messi opened the scoring sheets in the round of 32 clash against Cabo Verde in the team's close 3-2 win over the minnows.