Puskas Award: Which goals should have beaten Mo Salah's effort to the prize?
The FIFA Best Football Awards saw a controversial winner in the best goal category last night.
Liverpool and Egyptian star Mo Salah was awarded the ‘Puskas Award’ for his strike against Everton in last December’s Merseyside Derby.
But social media is awash with people saying it should not even be on the shortlist, let alone taking home the prize.
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You can see where they are coming from too, many have questioned whether it was even the best goal Salah scored – including his team-mate James Miler.
Not a single member of the Yahoo Sport UK team agreed with the decision, so we’ve decided to tell you which goals should have won and why.
Matt Storey – Gareth Bale (Real Madrid v Liverpool, Champions League)
The greatest goal EVER scored in a final.
😲 Breathtaking overhead kick 😲
Happy 29th birthday to Gareth Bale pic.twitter.com/tmcvtacv1C
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) July 16, 2018
It’s Gareth Bale’s goal. There is not even a question about it.
In the biggest club game in the world, with his future in doubt, Bale produces a moment of pure quality to score a goal that will be remembered for years to come.
Will anyone outside of Merseyside really remember Mo Salah’s decent finish – and that is all it was – in five years’ time? It’s unlikely.
Bale’s is audacious, but he knows he has the quality to pull it off.
Special mentions to Riley McGree for being this year’s flukiest contender, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos for a wonderful free-kick and Lionel Messi for, aside from Salah, having the most over-rated goal.
Dimitri Kondonis – Riley McGree (Newcastle Jets v Melbourne City, A-League)
So how did Riley McGree's WONDER GOAL not win the #Puskás Goal of the Year?!
🙄🤷♂️#FIFAFootballAwards pic.twitter.com/stUKyhL1Av
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) September 24, 2018
It’s Riley McGree. You know it has to be.
We’ve seen a couple of scorpion kicks in the Premier League in recent times, but this was truly in a class of its own.
The pass is behind him and the last-minute readjustment is top class, leaving the keeper helpless as the ball floats into the top corner.
It is a unique strike from some way out which, for me, means it should be the winner.
Matt Garrett – Gareth Bale (Real Madrid v Liverpool, Champions League)
The tekkers. The stage. The celebration. Gareth Bale’s Champions League final goal had all the ingredients required for an iconic, award-winning goal.
Rising up to meet Marcelo’s speculative cross, the Welshman performed an athletic overhead kick which propelled the ball past an awe-struck Loris Karius.
The goal broke the 1-1 stalemate and pushed Los Blancos on to win 3-1.
However, the best thing about the goal was not the skill, the occasion or the celebration. It was the fact that it made Cristiano Ronaldo’s overhead kick the month before look amateur in comparison.
And Ronaldo hated being one-upped so much by Bale on the world’s biggest stage that he moved clubs.
Sam Elliott – Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid v Juventus, Champions League)
It's official!
Cristiano Ronaldo's incredible overhead kick against Juventus has been named UEFA's Goal of the Season for 2018 ⚽
It gets better every time you watch it 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/NBM05jZx8K
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) August 28, 2018
That’s the problem when you give the general public the deciding voice. Mob rule takes its grip, the wrong decisions get made and there’s no going back.
If it’s not Brexit, it’s the year’s greatest goal. Sometimes silence is golden, supporters with social media at their finger-tips can twist anything their way, and turn whatever they want into a laughing stock.
Ronaldo being Ronaldo, he’ll be as ticked off as all eye-rolling neutrals.
His incredible over-head kick against Juventus which put Real Madrid on the road to greatness just about nudges team-mate Gareth Bale and Aussie Riley McGree out of the way.
Nobody agrees with pundits all the time but get them round a table to decide next time please. When things on the world stage go into the record books, it can’t be a popularity contest.