DOHA: Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho has won the FIFA Puskas Award, the annual prize given to the most beautiful goal scored.
Garnacho’s stunning scissor kick against Everton in the Premier League – scored in November last year – missed out on a nomination for the 2023 award, meaning the Argentine will have to wait a long time to win the prestigious award.
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It was a moment of wonder that came unexpectedly in the third minute of action at Goodison Park.
There were also parallels with Wayne Rooney’s goal against Manchester City in 2011 and Garnacho did just that when he met Diogo Dalot’s cross from the right.
“I tried this technique many times in training,” Garnacho told FIFA recently.
“I thought, ‘This is the time to do it, to see what happens.’ And I scored the goal, so it was perfect!”
“After the goal, my teammates were patting each other on the head. They were like, ‘How did you do it?'”
The rising Argentine star’s stunning goal was nominated among 10 goals and topped the charts after a vote by fans and a panel of experts, garnering a total of 26 points.
Yassine Benzia finished in second place with 22 points, followed by Denis Omedi in third with 16 points.
The FIFA Puskas Award recognizes the most impressive goal in men’s football with the nomination period from August 21, 2023 to August 10, 2024.
The award is named after legendary Hungarian striker Ferenc Puskas, who is known for a number of stunning individual goals.
Garnacho, who celebrated his 20th birthday in July, finished last season with 10 goals in all competitions and has already scored eight goals this season.
It is the fifth time in the 15-year history of the Puskas Award that the winning goal has been scored in an EPL match, following in the footsteps of Olivier Giroud (2017), Mohamed Salah (2018), Son Heung Min (2020) and Erik Lamela (2021).
Malaysian player Faiz Subri won the award in 2016 while playing for Penang.