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Karim Benzema Becomes Top Penalty Taker In Europe... Only To Lose Title In Same Game

Benzema briefly took the throne from Sergio Ramos, only to fall behind the PSG defender and the likes of Harry Kane, Wahbi Khazri and Andrej Kramaric.

Robert Summerscales

Karim Benzema Becomes Top Penalty Taker In Europe... Only To Lose Title In Same Game
Karim Benzema Becomes Top Penalty Taker In Europe... Only To Lose Title In Same Game /

Karim Benzema scored two penalties to help Real Madrid bounce back from their Clasico thrashing with a 2-1 win at Celta Vigo.

Benzema's double on Saturday means that he has now scored 94 La Liga goals since the start of the 2017/18 season.

Almost a fifth of those goals have been penalties, with Benzema scoring for the spot 18 times in the league the last five seasons.

Benzema's first penalty against Celta came on 19 minutes after Nolito had fouled Eder Militao.

By converting that penalty - sending keeper Matias Dituro the wrong way in the process - Benzema became statistically the most deadly penalty taker in Europe's top five leagues over the past five seasons.

Data compiled by Opta showed that of all the players who had scored at least 12 spot-kicks in either the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 or the Bundesliga in the last five seasons, none had a conversion rate as high as Benzema's.

But Benzema's conversion rate did not stay at 94.4% for long.

Within just 45 minutes, Benzema took another penalty. This one was saved by Dituro, dropping Benzema down to 89.47%.

But that did not dissuade the Frenchman from stepping up again moments later, after Real were awarded their third spot-kick of the day.

Benzema made amends for his miss and, with it, took his conversion rate over the past five seasons up to a round 90%.

That left PSG defender Sergio Ramos with the title of Europe's top penalty taker, narrowly ahead of Tottenham's Harry Kane, Saint-Etienne's Wahbi Khazri and Andrej Kramaric of Hoffenheim in joint second.

Karim Benzema scores a penalty for Real Madrid against Celta Vigo in 2021
Karim Benzema has scored from 18 of his 20 La Liga penalties in the last five seasons :: IMAGO/Zuma wire/Oscar J. Barroso
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Robert Summerscales
ROBERT SUMMERSCALES

Robert Summerscales launched FanNation Futbol in February 2022. Rob is a British journalist who previously spent two years on the sports desk at the Daily Mail in London, having earlier served as editor of CaughtOffside.com. He has been to the last two FIFA Men's World Cups, in Russia and Qatar, and is looking forward to completing his hat-trick in North America in 2026.

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