'Surprised' Gareth Bale believes Mo Salah's victory win 'diminishes' the Puskas Award

Gareth Bale believes FIFA’s Puskas goal of the year award has been diminished after Mo Salah picked up the award last season.

Bale’s unbelievable overhead kick in the Champions League final was also in the running and he was surprised to see it beaten by Salah’s strike.

Although the Egyptian’s goal against Everton was a fine effort, bending the ball into the top corner in the Merseyside derby, there was surprise when it was included in the initial list, let alone announced as the winner.

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While the shortlist of ten is compiled by FIFA, the winner goes down to a public vote and Salah’s popularity in Egypt and with Liverpool fans saw him take the trophy with 38 per cent of the vote.

“Yeah, I was surprised by that, to be honest,” Bale told FourFourTwo. “What can you say?

“It makes the award look a little diminished, although it was obviously a great goal by Salah.”

Bale labelled his strike against Liverpool as the best of his career so far and believes it was just ‘instinctive’.

“It was instinctive,” Bale said. “I got my body positioned correctly, got my footwork right, and caught it perfectly.

“When you catch the ball perfectly, you know it’s on target. You just have to hope the keeper doesn’t make an unbelievable save.

“So, as soon as I hit it, I knew it had a chance of going in. If you watch it, you see my head turn straight away. I knew where the ball was going.”

On whether it was his best, he added: “I think you’d have to say that. There haven’t been too many like that!

“I did love the one in the [2014] Copa del Rey final against Barcelona, but as this one was on such a big stage – the Champions League final, the biggest game in club football – and technically it was the winner, I’d have to say that it’s the best.”