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Lionel Messi has won the UEFA Goal of the Season award for his fantastic team goal against Roma. He has also made history by becoming the only player to win the award for two consecutive years.
The Barcelona and Argentina football star exchanged slick one-two passes with Neymar and Luis Suarez before dinking the ball past an onrushing Wojciech Szczesny. Neymar initially received the ball in midfield and after a swift exchange with Messi, found the Argentine again with a perfect reverse pass. Messi then laid it off to Suarez who played a wonderful finessed through ball over the defence. Messi, by then at the edge of the Roma box, took it down with ease and chipped Wojciech Szczesny to round off an astonishing move.
Also read: Lionel Messi snubbed by UEFA for Best Player in Europe award
Lionel Messi's goal received 34% of the total votes, adding up to about 73,331 votes with Ricardinho's effort for Portugal in the UEFA Futsal Championship coming in second with 13%. Third spot went to Xherdan Shaqiri’s sweet bicycle kick for Switzerland against Poland in the Euro 2016 while Saul Niguez’s incredible solo effort against Bayern Munich in the semi finals of the Champions League ran out fourth, tied with Olympique Lyon women’s team player Camille Abily.
Messi’s win is in contrast to a disappointing year in Europe
The 29-year-old managed a remarkable 41 goals in 49 appearances for Barca in all competitions last season and was a major part of the side that won the La Liga and the Copa Del Ray.
Despite such feats though, the Argentine international is not in the running for UEFA’s best player in Europe award after being pipped by Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Antoine Griezmann. The winner of that award will be announced later tonight after the Champions League draw which will be taking place in Monaco.
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Messi’s piece of magic was among a 10 man shortlist which included Marek Hamsik’s strike against Russia in the 2016 Euros as well as Juan Cuadrado’s effort against Bayern Munich and Gonzalo Higuain’s screamer against Napoli.
The Catalans also had another goal in the shortlist, courtesy Carles Alena who managed a fine strike against Roma in the UEFA Youth League, which eventually finished tenth in the poll.
The voting was done by fans on the UEFA.com website.
Take a look at Messi’s goal below:
