Tuesday 21 April 2020 09:31, UK
Valencia goalkeeper Diego Alves saved two penalties against Atletico Madrid on Sunday, but who is Europe's best penalty stopper?
The Brazilian's double denial failed to prevent his side slipping to a 2-0 defeat to the La Liga leaders, but his two penalty saves boosted his career spot-kick record to a remarkable 22 stops from 45 penalties faced. That equates to a 49 per cent success rate for the goalkeeper.
It's a record unmatched by any goalkeeper who has faced 10 or more career penalties currently signed to a team competing in Europe's top five leagues: the Premier League, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1.
In comparison, the Premier League's best goalkeeper when it comes to saving spot-kicks is Chelsea reserve Eduardo, who has saved 13 of the 35 penalties he's faced in his career, according to transfermarkt.co.uk data. However, that's only good enough for ninth place on the European list.
Fellow Premier League back-up 'keepers, Arsenal's Emiliano Martínez (four from 11) and Hull City's Allan McGregor (13 from 37), also have impressive records.
The best-ranked Premier League first-choice 'keeper is Liverpool's summer signing Loris Karius at No 17. He's saved eight from 23 penalties faced, a 34.8 per cent success rate.
Burnley and England goalkeeper Tom Heaton makes No 18 in the list, with nine saves from 27 penalties, having stopped two in the Premier League during 2014/15 from Everton's Ross Barkley and Southampton's Dusan Tadic, while Manchester United's David de Gea has the 28th highest save ratio (11 saves from 35), ahead of reserve 'keeper Sergio Romero at No 45 (nine saves from 32).
Manchester City's Claudio Bravo saved Erik Lamela's penalty during his side's 2-0 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday - but he has a lower penalty save ratio (nine from 34) than Joe Hart (13 from 45), who left the club on loan to Torino in August to make way for the Chilean.
Other notable goalkeepers on the list include Southampton's Fraser Forster (No 31, seven from 23), Real Madrid's Keylor Navas (No 18, 10 from 30), Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer (No 24, 16 from 50) and Juventus' Gianluigi Buffon (No 27, 28 from 89).
At the other end of the scale, Sunderland's Jordan Pickford has the worst record of first-choice Premier League 'keepers with one save from 18. However, Black Cats reserve Mika has failed to save one penalty from 15 faced during his career.
Arsenal's David Ospina also fares badly with two saves from 32, while Watford's Costel Pantilimon has only stopped three from 25 - despite being the Premier League's tallest player at 6ft 8in tall.
