The 2022/23 season is set to be a campaign like no other, with domestic football pausing for a month in November and December for the 2022 Qatar World Cup. We saw plenty of penalties there, 23 in fact (excluding those in shootouts), not too far shy of the all-time record awarded four years earlier in Russia. We won’t mention Harry Kane’s second against France … oops, we just did!
One man who didn’t take a penalty in Qatar, nor in Russia for that matter, is Italy’s Jorginho. Amazingly Italy, the champions of Euro 2020, did not qualify for the World Cups either side of that success. Chelsea’s Brazil-born Italy international, more fully known as Jorge Luiz Frello Filho, has, of course, taken plenty of spot-kicks for both club and country over the years and he is currently the Blues’ principal penalty taker.
Jorginho: Penalty Record in 2022/23
Born in 1991, Chelsea’s number five has the sort of record from the spot that most English players would give anything for. Before we get too carried away with just how good the midfielder is, we should note that Jordan Pickford did actually deny him in the final of Euro 2020, albeit in vain.
That really was a rare penalty miss though and in the 2022/23 campaign, the man from Imbituba in southern Brazil boasts a 100% record from the spot. Ahead of the post-World Cup Premier League return he is three from three, including netting one against Pickford and Everton on 6th August 2022 that was enough to see the Blues win the game 1-0.
| Score or Miss | Date | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6/8/22 | 1-0 win against Everton | Premier League |
| Score | 11/10/22 | 2-0 win against AC Milan | Champions League |
| Score | 22/10/22 | 1-1 draw against Man Utd | Premier League |
Hopefully we will see him take, and score, many more in the season ahead. Whether he slams them in or does his usual stuttering run and hop before stroking into the vacant part of the goal, we don’t really care!
Other Penalty Takers at Chelsea
Since his arrival at the club in July 2018, Jorginho has always taken at least some of the Blues’ penalties, though his grip on the top job has grown over the years. In his first season, Eden Hazard was the main man for Chelsea, scoring seven times from the spot. However, Jorginho took two in the EFL Cup, missing one, but scored his only penalty in each of the Premier League and Europa League that campaign for a respectable record of three from four. That season David Luiz, Ross Barkley and Willian were just some of the other players to take penalties for the west London side.
The following season, with Hazard having departed to Real Madrid and the Blues £100m richer, Jorginho became the main penalty taker for the club. He scored two out of two in the Champions League, both in the same game against Ajax and two out of two in the UEFA Super Cup (one in extra time and one in the shootout). Willian took a number of Premier League spot-kicks but Jorginho also notched three, meaning that all season his record was a perfect seven out of seven.
In 2020/21, with his reputation from the spot growing, the Italy international had an even firmer grip on Chelsea’s penalty-taking role. He did miss one of his two in the CL, though it didn’t matter in the end as the Blues still beat Krasnodar 4-0. In the Premier League, he took nine of Chelsea’s 10 penalties (Mason Mount taking the other) and he scored with seven of those. He also scored his spot-kick in an EFL Cup shootout against Spurs. Timo Werner also took four penalties this term, scoring three.
Last season, 2021/22, the Brazil-born holding midfielder took seven of Chelsea’s nine league penalty kicks, only missing against, of all people, West Ham. Romelu Lukaku and Mount scored the other two. Jorginho also went two from two in the Champions League, whilst a number of Blues were called upon in Chelsea’s two losses (in the EFL Cup final and FA Cup final) to Liverpool on penalties. Jorginho scored in both of those shootouts and also in an EFL Cup win over Brentford.