Jordan Veretout has made history by becoming the player to have scored the most penalties for Roma without ever missing.
The Frenchman has been reliable from the spot ever since joining Roma from Fiorentina in 2019. He scored his 10th penalty for the club in the 2-0 Europa League win over CFR Cluj on 26th November.
While some players have scored more spot kicks for Roma, none have done so without missing one as well. But Veretout maintains the best 100 per cent penalty record for Roma.
In ascending order, here are the other players to boast the best 100 per cent penalty records for Roma.
Fabio Capello (5)
Long before he became a Scudetto-winning manager with Roma, Fabio Capello played for the club in the 1960s. A midfielder, he scored 18 goals for the club – five of which came from the spot.
Ermes Borsetti (6)
A member of the first Roma squad to win Serie A in 1942, Ermes Borsetti was a midfielder with an eye for goal. He scored 28 times for the Giallorossi in total – including four goals in the Scudetto-winning campaign
By that time, though, he was no longer the team’s designated penalty taker, having scored all six of the spot kicks he would net for the club by 1940.
Daniel Fonseca (6)
The last player to wear the number 10 shirt for Roma before Francesco Totti, Daniel Fonseca spent three seasons in the capital.
The Uruguayan striker scored 28 goals in that time. Between his previous clubs, he had missed four penalties, but he scored all six he took for Roma. Half of those came in his final season with the club in 1996-97.
Enrique Guaita (6)
No player has a better goals-to-games ratio for Roma than Enrique Guaita, considering only those to make at least 50 appearances for the club.
The Argentine forward got 43 goals in 60 games during his time in Rome, boasting a perfect record from his six penalties. He was top scorer in each of his two seasons with the club.
Miguel Angel Panto (6)
Miguel Angel Panto helped Roma win their first Serie A title in 1941-42. All six of the penalties he scored for the club came either side of that victorious season.
The first came on his debut for the club in 1939, opening his account after just 24 minutes. Dangerous from open play as well, he surpassed 40 goals for the club in total.
Franco Zaglio (6)
Eventually becoming a Serie A winner with Inter, Roma gave Franco Zaglio an important step in his development. During a two-year spell in the 1950s, he scored 10 goals for the club.
More than half of those came from the penalty spot, as he showed his composure despite only being in his early 20s at the time.
Francisco Lojacono (7)
Francisco Lojacono was a key player in Roma’s sole European trophy win in 1961, when they lifted the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The Argentine-born midfielder scored an impressive 19 goals in all competitions that year, his first with the club, but was still outscored by Pedro Manfredini.
Across his Roma career, he wasn’t always the main taker of spot kicks, but still scored a total of seven penalties.
Istvan Nyers (7)
Born in France but a Hungarian international, Istvan Nyers spent two seasons with Roma in the 1950s. While he wasn’t quite as prolific as he had been at Inter Milan, for whom he scored more than 100 goals, Nyers still proved his worth in the capital with 20 goals from 54 games.
More than one-third of his Roma goals were penalties. He scored spot kicks on the opening day of both his seasons with the club.
Daniele De Rossi (8)
Daniele De Rossi admittedly did once miss a spot kick in a penalty shootout, but this list only counts penalties that occurred during the main segments of matches. In that regard, he never missed.
The Roman midfielder was always reliable from the spot; it is perhaps surprising that he only ever took eight penalties for the club. However, he made he most of those he did take.
For example, he scored Roma’s winning goal in the 2007 Supercoppa Italiana from the spot, as well as the second goal in the 3-0 comeback win over Barcelona in 2018.
Arcadio Venturi (9)
The player who figureheaded Roma’s return to Serie A after just one season in the second tier, Arcadio Venturi was renowned for his loyalty to the cause. All six of his goals in the club’s campaign in Serie B were penalties.
In total, half of his 18 goals for Roma across a nine-year spell were penalty kicks. The midfielder stepped up when his club needed him, ensuring there would be a bright future once again.
Egisto Pandolfini (9)
A midfielder who played for Roma for four seasons in the 1950s, Egisto Pandolfini scored 29 goals from 110 games for the club after becoming their record signing at the time of his arrival.
In his second season, he was Roma’s highest scoring player with 13 goals. He had an eye for goal from open play as well; just three of his strikes that season came from the spot.
Jordan Veretout (10)
Roma already knew how potent Veretout was from the spot, as he had scored a penalty against them for Fiorentina back in November 2018.
When he arrived in the capital, he wasn’t the first choice penalty taker any more, as Diego Perotti’s ability from the spot made him hard to dislodge.
Fortunately for Veretout, Perotti’s frequent injuries meant he was rarely there to take penalties in his final season with the club before his departure. Therefore, the Frenchman assumed the responsibility.
He has stood up to the task incredibly well, earning the nickname of ‘Ice Man’ for his coollness from the spot. His effort against Cluj made him the first Roma player to reach double figures of penalty goals without ever missing one.
Veretout will now be hoping to keep up that perfect record to stay top of this list.
Note: Since the publication of this article, Veretout extended his perfect record to 13 after scoring further penalties against Torino in December 2020, Udinese in February 2021 and Lazio in September 2021. However, he lost it after missing one against Juventus in October 2021.
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