I just saw some footage of Nils Liedholm. He took quite a few penalties for Milan. This leads to my question; how many penalties did Nordahl take?
According to my source he only ever scored one penalty during his time in Serie A: Gunnar Nordahl season - games - goals (penalties) - club 1948-49 15 / 16 (0) AC Milan 1949-50 37 / 35 (1) AC Milan 1950-51 37 / 34 (0) AC Milan 1951-52 38 / 26 (0) AC Milan 1952-53 32 / 26 (0) AC Milan 1953-54 33 / 23 (0) AC Milan 1954-55 33 / 27 (0) AC Milan 1955-56 32 / 23 (0) AC Milan 1956-57 30 / 13 (0) AS Roma 1957-58 04 / 02 (0) AS Roma Source: "Anagrafe del Calcio Italiano - Storia della Serie A" by Rino Tommasi
Yes his exploits are the most impressive among goalscorers that ever played in Serie A, but of course it should be noted that in the early 1950s goalscoring in Serie A was higher than what we associate Italian football with today. Here's the environment he had in Serie A regarding the top scorers of the time. Remarkably is the domination of Serie A by Scandinavian forwards during these years: (Up to 1952, a Serie A season spanned 38 games, after that 34 games.) 1948-49 Goals (penalties) - player (club) 26 (6) Nyers (Inter) 22 (0) Amadei (Inter) 21 (1) Mike (Bologna) 19 (3) Stradella (Livorno) 17 (0) Carapellese (Milan) 16 (0) V.Mazzola (Torino) 16 (0) G.Nordahl (Milan) 1949-50 35 (1) G.Nordahl (Milan) 30 (10) Nyers (Inter) 28 (3) J.Hansen (Juve) 27 (10) Santos (Torino) 24 (1) Galassi (Fiorentina) 22 (0) Burini (Milan) 21 (0) Boniperti (Juve) 20 (0) Amadei (Inter) 20 (0) Bassetto (Sampdoria) 1950-51 34 (0) G.Nordahl (Milan) 31 (4) Nyers (Inter) 24 (6) K.Hansen (Juve) 23 (0) Wilkes (Inter) 22 (0) Boniperti (Juve) 21 (0) Lorenzi (Inter) 20 (0) J.Hansen (Juve) 1951-52 30 (3) J.Hansen (Juve) 26 (0) G.Nordahl (Milan) 23 (6) Nyers (Inter) 22 (0) Jeppson (Bergamo) 22 (5) Burini (Milan) 1952-53 28 (0) G.Nordahl (Milan) 22 (4) J.Hansen (Juve) 18 (1) Bacci (Bologna) 18 (0) Rasmussen (Bergamo) 16 (3) Vivolo (Juve) 15 (2) Nyers (Juve) 1953-54 23 (0) G.Nordahl (Milan) 20 (0) Jeppson (Napoli) 17 (3) Bassetto (Bergamo) 17 (0) Ricagni (Juve) 15 (0) Rasmussen (Bergamo) 15 (0) L.Sorensen (Milan) 1954-55 27 (0) G.Nordahl (Milan) 20 (0) Bettini (Udine) 17 (2) Pivatelli (Bologna) 16 (0) Rasmussen (Bergamo) 15 (1) Bacci (Torino) 15 (0) J.Hansen (Lazio) 15 (0) Schiaffino (Milan) 15 (1) Virgili (Fiorentina) 1955-56 29 (4) Pivatelli (Bologna) 23 (0) G.Nordahl (Milan) 21 (0) Virgili (Fiorentina) 18 (3) Bassetto (Bergamo) 17 (0) Firmani (Sampdoria) 16 (0) Schiaffino (Milan) 16 (0) Vinicio (Napoli) 1956-57 22 (0) Da Costa (Roma) 18 (0) Sacchi (Udine) 18 (0) Vinicio (Napoli) 17 (0) Bean (Milan) 15 (3) Bassetto (Bergamo) 15 (1) Lindskog (Udine) 14 (0) Galli (Milan) 14 (0) Montuori (Fiorentina) 13 (0) G.Nordahl (Roma)
nyers is second most productive all-time: Gunnar Nordahl 1948–1958 225 291 0.77 István Nyers 1948–1956 153 236 0.65 Giuseppe Meazza 1929–1947 216 367 0.59 Gabriel Batistuta 1991–2003 184 318 0.58 Giuseppe Signori 1991–2004 188 344 0.55 if we inaccurately discount nyer's penalties that are on your list (leaving his last 3 seasons in serie a untouched) then we get 125 goals in 236 games = 0.53 i'm not sure about meazza but i know that signori and batigoal took the penalties for their clubs. speculating on these numbers, there could be about a 0.25 goal per game disparity between nordahl and the best of the rest.
You overlooked Johnny Hansen perhaps? As contemporary of both Nyers and Nordahl. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classifica_dei_marcatori_della_Serie_A
i used the english wiki. the italian page seems more complete: Gunnar Nordahl 225 291 0,77 1949-1958 210 Aldo Boffi[1] 109 163 0,67 1936-1943 109 Milan István Nyers 153 236 0,65 1948-1956 133 Inter, 20 Roma John Hansen 139 214 0,65 1948-1955 124 Juventus, 15 Lazio Angelo Schiavio[1] 109 179 0,61 1929-1938 109 Bologna John Charles 97 160 0,61 1957-1963 93 Juventus, 4 Roma Marco Van Basten 90 147 0,61 1987-1993 90 Milan a similar treatment for hansen gives 129 goals in 214 matches = 0.60 or about a .2 disparity. does anyone have any idea about aldo boffi's penalty record?
Boffi 6 (of 8), Hansen 15 (of 23), Nordahl 1 (of 4), Nyers 36 (of 50), Schiavio 1 (of 4), Charles 4 (of 7), Basten 24 (of 26), Batistuta 14 (of 23), Signori 44 (of 52), Meazza 12 (of 18). Liedholm 25/32.
if we round off on boffi's selfishness,) then the gap between nordahl and the rest is about 0.15 similarly, if we speculate on liedholm's penalties taken by nordahl (let's say 22/23 extra goals) then that would yield a 0.85 average and a 0.2 gap. if we consider that cristiano ronaldo has a similar gpg gap in la liga, we might actually argue that our thirst for heroes is only quenched by showdowns. i'll open a new thread