Well done Wendell Lira.
It’s usually only Cristiano Ronaldo who pips Lionel Messi to awards, but an unknown Brazilian player beat the Barcelona genius for the Puskas award tonight in Zurich.
Messi won the main prize of the evening, and was crowned the best player in the world for the fifth time, at the Ballon d’Or ceremony, but had appeared certain to also claim the award for best goal of 2015 for this incredible solo effort against Athletic Bilbao.
However, Wendell Lira, a 27-year-old Brazilian took the award for his acrobatic goal for Goianesia. Yeah, us neither, but fair play to him.
FIFA Puskas Award: 1.6 million fans voted! Wendell Lira 46.7%, Lionel Messi 33.3%, Alessandro Florenzi 7.1% of all votes. #BallondOr
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) January 11, 2016
Twitter was surprised with the choice though.
When you hear that Messi didn't win the Puskas Award… #BallondOr pic.twitter.com/V0D1xE52dT
— Ladbrokes (@Ladbrokes) January 11, 2016
Live footage from the Eurosport office as #Messi misses out on the Puskas Award. pic.twitter.com/q4htj2fTrA
— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 11, 2016
https://twitter.com/BreatheSport/status/686619091810021376
https://twitter.com/Copa90/status/686618715459289088
https://twitter.com/adam_pena21/status/686623716592107520
Very surprised #Messi didn't win the Puskás award. It's a fan vote, after all, and he's hugely popular… #BallondOr
— Ben Hayward (@bghayward) January 11, 2016
