Craig Burley says football fans made a "pig's ear" of the vote for the Puskas Award, which was won by Mohamed Salah's goal against Everton. The ESPN FC crew assess Luka Modric's credentials after he claimed The Best FIFA Men's Player award over Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah. Croatia captain and Real Madrid star Luka Modric has been named the Best FIFA Men's Player in 2018 after winning the Golden Ball award at the World Cup. Real Madrid and Belgium's Thibaut Courtois has been named the Best FIFA Men's Goalkeeper in 2018 after winning the Golden Glove award at World Cup in Russia. After leading France to World Cup glory in Russia, Didier Deschamps has been named the Best FIFA Men's Coach for 2018.
On a topsy-turvy night at The Best FIFA awards, perhaps the most controversial decision was to bestow Liverpool's Mohamed Salah with the Puskas Award (i.e. goal of the year) for his strike against Everton last season.
Many were baffled to see Salah's solo effort come out on top, especially as it wasn't even close to the best goal that the forward scored over the course of his individually stellar 2017-18 campaign.
That sentiment was echoed by teammate James Milner, who offered wry congratulations to his teammate after the winner -- chosen by an online fan vote -- was announced.
Congrats @MoSalah on your 7th best goal from last season winning goal of the year ???? #Baller#Topbin#oneofmanyworldies https://t.co/OkNMlIsNLb
— James Milner (@JamesMilner) 24 September 2018
But is Milner right? Here are six Salah strikes that could have been shortlisted ahead of his goal that landed him the award.
Milner wasn't alone in mocking the FIFA vote, with former Tottenham and Hull City midfielder Ryan Mason claiming that the Puskas Award had "lost a lot of credibility" by overlooking the likes of Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.
#puskasaward has lost a lot of credibility for me tonight! Not even the best premier league goal of the season from Salah....
How was this overlooked? Arguably one of the best ever CL goals pic.twitter.com/qUo9GRA9Uo
— Ryan Mason (@RyanMason) 24 September 2018
Salah's goal was also selected over a bevvy of World Cup screamers on the shortlist, including Benjamin Pavard's deft swerving effort against Argentina and Ricardo Quaresma's outside-of-the-boot beauty against Iran -- which FIFA voted as their goal of the tournament.
After scoring 44 goals in 52 appearances last season, Salah also finished up in third place in the voting for the Best FIFA Men's Player of the Year award, behind Ronaldo in second and winner Luka Modric.
However, the Reds star couldn't command a place in the FIFA FIFPro World 11 team of the year, which saw the attacking slots filled by Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and that man Ronaldo.
???? ALERT ???? @FIFPro & @FIFAcom proudly present the #World11 of 2018! ???? ????
Well done to all players that have been selected! ????
????????https://t.co/DGHqVqhmrf#TheBest #FIFAFootballAwards pic.twitter.com/gxxsQ3Juc9
— FIFPro (@FIFPro) 24 September 2018
The FIFPro team is composed by votes garnered from all professional men's footballers in the world, whereas the Best FIFA Men's Player award is decided by national team coaches and captains, as well as selected media representatives.
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Source: espn.co.uk