Liverpool FC top 10 penalty takers – From Milner to Molby

Jack Sear

@JackSear

September 22, 2022

Who are the best penalty takers in the history of Liverpool FC? Here’s our top 10.

When penalties are awarded, they’re celebrated by fans as if a goal has already been scored.

But if you don’t have a player you can rely on from the spot, those celebrations can become meaningless.

Thankfully, Liverpool have had their fair share of excellent penalty takers. Here, we rank our top 10.

10. Mark Walters

Taken: 6 Scored: 6 Success Rate: 100%

A name you were expecting to see on this list? Maybe not, but the stats don’t lie.

Walters, who played for the Reds between 1991 and 1995, took six penalties for the club and scored all six.

Only one other player who has scored more than five penalties for the club has a 100% success rate. Can’t argue with that!

9. Tommy Smith

Taken: 32 Scored: 22 Success Rate: 68.8%

As things stand, Smith has scored the sixth-highest amount of penalties than any other player in Liverpool’s history, not bad for a centre half!

The former Reds captain earned the nickname of the ‘Anfield Iron’ due to his uncompromising style as a defender for his hometown club.

But when it came to penalties, he was usually reliable, and he also scored his fair share of free-kicks.

8. Billy Liddell

Taken: 45 Scored: 34 Success Rate: 75.6%

Only three players have scored more penalties for Liverpool than Liddell, who is one of only four players to breach the 200-goal mark in the club’s history.

In his early years with the club, he studied as an accountant alongside his football commitments, with his parents keen to ensure he had something to fall back on if football didn’t work out.

They needn’t have worried about that, with Liddell going on to become one of the most prolific strikers and penalty scorers in Reds history.

7. Danny Murphy

Taken: 8 Scored: 8 Success Rate: 100%

Murphy is the other player to have taken more than five Liverpool penalties with a 100% success rate.

All eight of the spot kicks he took for the Reds found the back of the net, with the midfielder also excelling in free-kicks.

“Danny Murphy loved his penalties!”

– Owen Tan on Facebook

6. Mohamed Salah

Taken: 26 Scored: 23 Success Rate: 88.5%

Salah is Liverpool’s current first-choice penalty taker.

He wasn’t the Reds’ go-to man from the spot in his first season, but such is his thirst for goals, he made sure that’s what he became.

His most important penalty was against Tottenham in the 2019 Champions League final, and he made no mistake.

5. James Milner

Taken: 21 Scored: 19 Success Rate: 90.5%

Had it not been for Salah’s arrival, Milner would surely have more penalty goals to his name.

As one of the most experienced players in the Liverpool squad, Milner has perfected his penalty taking routine over many years.

His most important penalties for the Reds include his 95th minute winner against Leicester in the club’s title-winning season.

“Never goes for the audacious, always keeps it simple.”

– Ricky Umunna on Facebook

“If my life depended on it, James Milner is the only player I want taking that penalty.”

– @dimitrihondros2 on Twitter

4. Phil Neal

Taken: 51 Scored: 38 Success Rate: 74.5%

The most decorated player in Liverpool’s history, despite being a right-back, Neal was the penalty taker relied on for much of the Reds’ success in the 70s and 80s.

He scored from the spot in the 1977 European Cup final and in the shootout against Rome in 1984.

The only thing stopping him from ranking higher was the fact he missed 13 of the 51 penalties he took for the club, which may surprise some of you.

“Great pen taker and full-back, so underrated.”

– Les Arnold on Facebook

“So reliable over so long on the biggest of occasions.”

– Rob Common on Facebook

3. Steven Gerrard

Taken: 57 Scored: 47 Success Rate: 82.5%

Gerrard is the player to have scored the most penalties in Liverpool’s history.

Throughout his years as the club’s captain and talisman, Gerrard was the club’s first-choice penalty taker, with some of his most famous spot kicks coming against the likes of Real Madrid in 2009, as well as several at Old Trafford.