Agony of four aces - Ronaldo, Ramos, Ibrahimovic, Beckham

Dubai - Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Spain's Sergio Ramos, Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and England's David Beckham share the ignominy of having missed penalties

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Spain's Sergio Ramos, Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and England's David Beckham.
What do these four have in common? Of course, they are great footballers, super athletes and super stars in their own right, having impressed for club and country. But there is another factor which links them all and one which they could do without.
All four share the ignominy of having missed penalties. And those penalty misses have sometimes proved to be decisive as Beckham and Ibrahimovic would attest.
Ronaldo fluffed a penalty at the ongoing Euros in France, missing one during the Group F game against Austria at the Parc des Princes. And on Tuesday night, Spanish captain and Ronaldo's club mate at Real Madrid, Sergio Ramos, couldn't make his strike count against Croatia in a Group D fixture at the Stade de Bordeaux.
These two instances were costly as in Ronaldo's case, it extended Portugal's miserable run in the competition, while Ramos's miss saw the defending champions go down to Croatia.
And ironically enough, another Real Madrid player had a hand in Ramos's botched penalty. Luka Modric, who lines up alongside Ramos at the Santiago Bernabeu, tipped his goalkeeper Danijel Subasic about his club mate's penalty routine.
The 12-yard jinx is not just restricted to Ronaldo and Ramos. History is strewn with plenty of penalty misses, both at the Euros and the World Cup. Most notably, England have been the 'masters' at it.
Former England skipper David Beckham has gone through that pain and agony, not once, but thrice, at the Euros. The man known for his inch-perfect freekicks, missed one against Turkey during Euro qualification and then against France in the group stages in 2004. He later went on to miss a crucial penalty against hosts Portugal in the quarterfinals.
At the same edition, Sweden's towering striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic messed up against The Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
There is no clear explanation as to how these stars, who have scored some outstanding goals in open play, have missed from 12 yards out. Like they say, penalties are indeed a lottery.
james@khaleejtimes.com