Fans rage as Mkhitaryan’s scorpion goal not nominated for FIFA award

Fans rage as Mkhitaryan’s scorpion goal not nominated for FIFA award

PanARMENIAN.Net - Manchester United fans have been left fuming as Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s scorpion kick goal against Sunderland failed to make the FIFA Puskas Award nominations list despite Olivier Giroud’s similar strike for Arsenal against Crystal Palace made it on, Metro reports.

The award was established at the behest of then-president of FIFA Sepp Blatter in order to award the player, male or female, judged to have scored the most aesthetically significant, or "most beautiful", goal of the year.

The Armenia international showed remarkable skill and improvisation to acrobatically find the back of the net in a 3-1 win over the Black Cats on Boxing Day last year, after the nominations for 2016 had already come in.

Mohd Faiz Subri won last year’s edition of the prize, and was presented with the trophy at the awards ceremony in January.

While Mkhitaryan’s goal came a little late for it to earn a nomination last year, it is not clear why it has failed to make it among this year’s contenders, which judge strikes from the last twelve months of football around the world.

Neymar’s goal for Barcelona in a 3-0 win over Villarreal was one of the nominees for the 2016 prize, despite coming in November 2015, so it may be that FIFA have judged Mkhitaryan’s not to fit their official criteria.

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