Is Lionel Messi better than Ivan Toney at penalties? England striker makes BIG claim as he ignores Argentina legend in list of spot-kick kings

Ivan Toney is convinced that the likes Lionel Messi and Bruno Fernandes, as well as legends of the game including Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Andrea Pirlo, aren't better than him at penalties.

Speaking with GOAL Front Three content creator Yarns and HD Cutz on the LineUp, the England striker, who was included in Gareth Southgate's squad for Euro 2024, is asked to stay quiet until he hears a better penalty taker than him.

Having reeled off Aleksandar Mitrovic, Bruno, Steven Gerrard, Pirlo, Ibrahimovic, Messi and Mario Balotelli without flinching, Toney finally breaks his silence when former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure's name comes up.

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The Brentford star's confidence in his spot-taking ability is understandable, with Toney having scored 28 out of the 30 penalties he's taken during his career.

However, he's clearly a big fan of Toure's ability from 12 yards too - with the Ivorian having retired with a 100 per cent record in the Premier League from his 11 spot-kicks - telling GOAL: "Yaya Toure is cold. I don't think he's missed. He scored 29 in a row or something like that. I missed that one [against Newcastle in 2023] to make it level."

Toney also discussed some of the toughest defenders he's come up against during his time in the Premier League, with West Ham's Kurt Zouma and Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate name-dropped.

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He said: "Zouma, them kind of centre-backs, are scary. I remember I played against him and went up for a header, he jumped so high he basically kicked me on my shoulder. I feel like I jumped quite high but he just jumped some silly height. After that I just thought 'I'll go on the other side'. Konate, he's aggressive. [Lisandro] Martinez as well."

Further up the pitch, who would Toney pick in a 'start, bench, sell' scenario involving Ronaldo, Thierry Henry and Luis Suarez?

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The Three Lions attacker made his choices, adding: "I've not watched R9 live, I've not seen his games. I've seen clips and we're just going off what we've been told and what we've seen.

"Defenders [from back] then are different to now. I'd start R9. Henry's a cultured footballer. I've seen a bit of him so I can probably say bench him, and Suarez, he's got to go. Even though he's cold."

Asked which other forward players he would put in the top bracket, Toney added: "I'd say [Dimitar] Berbatov. First touch... no one's got a better touch than him. Probably [Riyad] Mahrez but other than Mahrez there's no one else that's got a better touch."

You can see the full episode of The LineUp by watching the clip at the top of the page or by visiting GOAL's YouTube channel.