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The finalists for the Puskas Award, the award for the best goal scored in a calendar year, have been whittled by voters from 10 down to just three.
One of those finalists was an incredible dribble goal by one Lionel Messi, who also happens to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or, given to the best player on the planet in a given calendar year.
Should Messi win both awards, he would become the first player to hold the Ballon d'Or and the Puskas at the same time. Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the only player to have won both a Ballon d'Or and a Puskas, but he did not win his Puskas in either of his Ballon d'Or years. In fact, in 2009, when Ronaldo won the Puskas, the Ballon d'Or in its current incarnation wasn't given out yet. The World Player of the Year award was given to the best player in the world. Messi won it that year.
But I digress. On to the Puskas nominees, and our pick to win.
Lionel Messi
We might as well start with the man we talked so much about in the introduction, the man who, coincidentally, needs no introduction.
No one has ever been able to dribble a soccer ball as well as Lionel Messi except maybe Garrincha. Not even Diego Maradona had feet as quick or deft as Messi does. This goal is a goal scored by a man who can do whatever he wants whenever he wants on a soccer field, and is a fine example of him doing whatever he wants whenever he wants.
Of all the nominees, this goal probably invilved the least amount of luck, and it should be rewarded for that, but it is not our pick for the Puskas. Oh no. That comes later.
Wendell Lira
We had not heard of Wendell Lira, as we expect most hadn't, until the 10 finalists for the Puskas were released.
Wendell Lira is incredibly coordinated and also possibly very very lucky. He can do a front flip bicycle kick thingy and score, which is a move few this side of Zlatan Ibrahimovic would have even thought of.
Our hats go off to Wendell Lira, and our hearts go out to him, for although he is not our pick to win the Puskas Award, he surely deserves some type of award for that goal. We applaud him for it.
Alessandro Florenzi
And here we've come to The18's pick for best goal of the year, which was scored, not by Lionel Messi, but against him, by Roma;s Alessando Florenzi in the Champions League group stage.
What a goal it was. You see goals from that distance a few times a year (Carli Lloyd had a long goal in the World Cup final that made the top 10), but rarely do you see them against competition of Barcelona's ability, against a goalkeeper like Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
It was, simply, incredible. There was no goal that combined timing, skill and shock like this one. I remember watching it and breaking down to the point where my non-soccer writer coworkers were wondering what was wrong with me. I was in shock. I was not shocked at either of the other goals, which is why Alessandro Florenzi's definition of a wonderstrike will win the Puskas Award.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
