Which team has had the most penalties in Europe this season?

10:19am on Tuesday 25th May 2021
By Team FC

Milan have finished at the top of our standings tracking the most penalties in Europe, while PSG saw their remarkable record from 12 yards end as part of a dramatic final week of the season.

Man Utd, Chelsea and Leicester City were among a host of other top teams to receive penalties over the last seven days.

There was a flurry of spot-kick awards and controversies as the domestic league seasons reached their conclusion around the continent.

In the end there were 21 teams in Europe who reached double figures for penalties received.

That group with at least 10 penalties awarded included some of the continent's biggest clubs like Bayern, Man Utd, PSG, Milan, Juventus and Chelsea.

There are not many subjects that produce more debate among football players, coaches and fans than the award of penalties.

VAR entering the game has led to an intense discussion over referees, spot-kicks and the process behind how they are awarded.

But arguments about which teams have received the most penalties have been around for decades.

We have looked into the data for the 2020/21 season to find which teams have the most penalties awarded, penalties scored and penalties missed.

READ MORE: European Golden Shoe standings

Having taken the top five leagues in Europe – the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga – into account, here is what we found.

WHICH TEAM HAS HAD THE MOST PENALTIES?

2020/21 Penalties received and scored: Top 20

Team	Penalties Received	Penalties scored
Milan	20	15
Monaco	15	12
Sassuolo	14	13
Villarreal	13	12
PSG	13	12
Strasbourg	12	10
Lens	12	10
Leicester City	12	10
Real Sociedad	12	9
Lyon	11	11
Gladbach	11	10
Man Utd	11	10
Real Betis	11	8
Metz	11	7
Lorient	10	9
Bayern	10	9
RB Leipzig	10	8
Valencia	10	8
Juventus	10	8
Chelsea	10	8
Lazio	10	6
Crotone	9	9
Inter	9	8

Milan have had a good season to finish second in Serie A and they were helped hugely by penalties awarded, with an astonishing 20 given in their favour - the most in Europe.

Stefano Pioli's side were initially poor at converting those and have five league penalties missed this season.

Turning to Franck Kessie has helped their record, as he has scored 11 of his incredible 13 efforts from 12 yards this season.

One of his two misses came as Milan nonetheless managed to beat Juventus this month, but he bounced back to score one in the 7-0 win at Torino before ending the season with TWO penalties in the 2-0 victory over Atalanta.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has taken six of Milan's league spot-kicks and is responsible for three of the misses, with Hakan Calhanoglu netting his only penalty attempt.

Milan had received penalties in two straight games, one in the 2-1 win over Roma and another to salvage a last-gasp 1-1 draw against Udinese on March 3, with Kessie scoring both before they went on a dry run.

Their penalties have come in spurts. Prior to Kessie's four recent opportunities from 12 yards against Atalanta, Juve and Torino, they had not received a spot-kick for nine Serie A matches since that March stint, so Monaco briefly closed right in behind them in these standings.

Milan have found the net with 15 of their 20 and they finish well in front of the pack when it comes to the most penalties scored in Europe, while they have five additional spot-kick awards than Monaco in second.

After Milan, the second Serie A team on our leaderboard is Sassuolo – they have had 14 and have scored all but one of them as another team in Italy finally began to move closer to Pioli's charges as the campaign progressed.

Juve, meanwhile, have a record of 8/10, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a crucial penalty against Udinese this month. He did miss one against Inter but scored the rebound.

His individual record is therefore 6/8, with Alvaro Morata (1/1) and Juan Cuadrado (1/1) the only other players to take a Serie A penalty for them.

Along with Man Utd, Leicester City have been boosted by penalties awarded this season and finish top of the Premier League charts. The Foxes have received 12 and scored 10 of those.

When it comes to the Primera Division, it is Villarreal who end up at the top.

Real Sociedad have overtaken Valencia over recent weeks and are second in La Liga, with Real Betis making a late push to third.

Gladbach have the most penalties in the Bundesliga with 11, with Bayern now up to second with 10 along with RB Leipzig. Robert Lewandowski scored a spot-kick against Freiburg for Bayern in the penultimate week of the season.

PSG looked like they would finish with the best penalty conversion record in Europe this season with 12 successful efforts out of 12 coming into the final week. However, Neymar missed a penalty in the last game of the season against Brest, so that honour goes to Lyon (11/11).

Memphis Depay has scored 8/8 for Lyon, with Houssem Aouar netting both of his efforts and Bruno Guimarães on target against Lorient this month.

PSG still had a fine campaign from 12 yards. Neymar had scored against Stade de Reims the previous week, his fifth spot-kick of the campaign and second in as many weeks. Kylian Mbappe (6) and Mauro Icardi (1) have successfully converted the club's other penalties.

Which team has had the most penalties in the Premier League?

PL penalties received and scored - All 20 teams

Team	Penalties Received	Penalties scored
Leicester City	12	10
Man Utd	11	10
Chelsea	10	8
Brighton	9	6
Man City	9	5
Newcastle	7	6
Liverpool	6	6
Arsenal	6	6
Southampton	6	5
Aston Villa	6	5
Fulham	6	3
Tottenham	5	5
Everton	5	4
Wolves	4	4
Leeds	4	4
West Brom	4	4
Sheffield United	4	3
Crystal Palace	4	3
West Ham	4	2
Burnley	3	3

Man Utd, Leicester and Chelsea - who all sit near the top of the charts - were among the teams in the Premier League to have penalty awards and move up our standings over last week.

It has been a controversial season, with Jurgen Klopp and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at one stage involved in a debate this season over the penalties awarded to Man Utd.

Liverpool have not exactly fared badly, having been given six Premier League penalties and scoring all of them, with Mohamed Salah (6/6) lethal from the spot.

However, Man Utd have been awarded five more penalties than their rivals.

Bruno Fernandes scored a penalty as Man Utd beat Aston Villa 2-1 On May 9, having recently netted spot-kicks against Newcastle and Man City too.

United have received 11 league penalties this season and scored 10, moving close to the summit of England's top flight for this category. The Portugal star has taken every spot-kick but one, with Juan Mata scoring in his absence against Wolves to finish the season.

The penalty award against Man City came after a fresh controversy at Stamford Bridge the previous week, with Solskjaer suggesting Chelsea had influenced referees.

Leicester finish one ahead of Man Utd, albeit with a worse conversion record, while Chelsea (two), Man City and Brighton (both three) are not far adrift at the top. Amazingly, almost all of the Foxes' penalties came last year - they were yet to receive one in 2021 until Jamie Vardy converted two penalties against Tottenham on Sunday.

Chelsea are one of the highest-placed teams with 10 penalties awarded and eight converted.

The Blues have received five penalties since February 4 against Tottenham, Southampton, Sheffield United, Everton and Leicester, all of which have been scored (Jorginho 4, Mason Mount 1).

Jorginho ended up as the club's top Premier League goalscorer and all seven of his strikes were penalties.

Man City have also fared well with nine penalties awarded, though Sergio Aguero had a shocking miss for Pep Guardiola's side in the recent defeat to Chelsea, with his Panenka saved by a grateful Edouard Mendy.

Most of the sides near the top of the table in England's top flight this season have been boosted by spot-kicks.

That perhaps makes the season from West Ham, who for much of the campaign challenged for a Champions League place, even more impressive. David Moyes' men battled near the top despite only receiving four penalties.

They have, though, received three of those four since March.

Against Leeds on March 8, Jesse Lingard missed the penalty, but scored the rebound. The on-loan Man Utd star then converted from the spot against Newcastle on April 17 but could not save West Ham from defeat, while Declan Rice missed one against West Brom.

West Ham’s record of four penalties received and two scored puts them second-bottom of the standings, with Burnley the only team to get just three.

Fulham have missed three of their six penalties awarded – mistakes they could not afford in a difficult fight against the drop - and their relegation was recently confirmed.

Arsenal improved to 6/6 when Alexandre Lacazette netted a crucial penalty in the 2-1 comeback North London derby win over Tottenham on March 14.

Spurs (5/5) have seen their tally improve to five penalties. Four of those have been scored by England captain Harry Kane, while Son Heung-min netted in the England captain's absence against Southampton.

Which team has had the most penalties in La Liga?

La Liga penalties received and scored

Team	Penalties Received	Penalties scored
Villarreal	13	12
Real Sociedad	12	9
Real Betis	11	8
Valencia	10	8
Eibar	9	4
Real Valladolid	8	7
Alaves	8	5
Barcelona	8	4
Celta Vigo	7	7
Sevilla	7	6
Atletico Madrid	7	5
Osasuna	6	5
Levante	6	3
Athletic Bilbao	5	4
Getafe	5	3
Granada	5	3
Cadiz	4	4
Huesca	4	3
Real Madrid	3	3
Elche	3	2

It is the biggest clubs who sit near the top of the Premier League penalty charts, but that is not the case with all three frontrunners in La Liga.

Atletico Madrid and Barcelona have not done too badly.

Champions Atletico finished on seven penalties received while Barca moved up to eight with the spot-kick they were awarded against Valencia, though that is still five fewer than the total of Villarreal.

Europa League finalists Villarreal strengthened their position at the top of the charts by being awarded two penalties in the recent 3-0 win at Granada and another in their dramatic 4-2 defeat to Celta this month.

Gerard Moreno scored both of them against Granada and ended the match with a hat-trick, while he also converted in the Celta game.

The prolific forward has scored 10/10 this season, with Paco Alcacer the only Villarreal player to miss one in La Liga.

When Antoine Griezmann scored for Barca against Getafe last month, it was the second straight penalty Ronald Koeman's men have converted.

But Barca had been struggling to score the penalties they have received, netting just four in the league, and their problems returned against Valencia, with Lionel Messi denied even though he would score almost immediately after before later adding a fine free-kick.

Messi has failed to convert two of his five spot-kicks, while Griezmann and Martin Braithwaite have missed attempts from 12 yards this season.

Joao Felix and Saul Niguez have misses to their name for Atletico, but Suarez has scored all three of their 2021 spot-kicks.

Zinedine Zidane was frustrated by penalty controversies at both ends of the pitch in the recent draw with Sevilla and his mood will not be improved by the following numbers.

Real Madrid have not fared anywhere near as well as their title rivals, just being awarded three all season. No team has received a lower number of penalties in La Liga than Zidane's side.

Madrid, though, do have 100% record scoring from the spot courtesy of Sergio Ramos (2/2) and Karim Benzema (1/1), who scored when they received a rare penalty in the April 21 win at Cadiz.

Eibar have had nine penalties given in 2020/21 but have missed (5) more than they have scored (4).

Cadiz had not been awarded a La Liga penalty until February 21 this season.

But it was worth the wait when they did finally receive a penalty, as it allowed Alex Fernandez to score a last-gasp spot-kick that earned them an impressive draw away to Barcelona.

They scored their third and fourth penalties of the season in the month of May to move above Real Madrid and Elche at the bottom.