Messi´s Roma goal wins UEFA award

Lionel Messi has won the UEFA Goal of the Season award for a brilliantly worked strike against Roma in the Champions League.

The Barcelona star exchanged slick passes with Neymar and Luis Suarez before dinking an inch-perfect finish past goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in a 6-1 victory over the Serie A side at Camp Nou last November.

The Argentina international, somewhat surprisingly, is not in the running for the UEFA Best Player in Europe accolade, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Antoine Griezmann vying for that honour, with the winner announced at the draw for the Champions League group stage in Monaco on Thursday.

But the 29-year-old can console himself with having seen off Xherdan Shaqiri’s spectacular overhead kick against Poland in the Euro 2016 round of 16, as well as the superb solo strike produced by Saul Niguez as Atletico Madrid defeated Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals.

WINNER!
Congratulations Leo Messi, winner of the UEFAcom fan vote for #GoalOfTheSeason ! https://t.co/ZNnlHs3ihq pic.twitter.com/UdQXv90KFp

— Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 25, 2016

Marek Hamsik’s effort against Russia at Euro 2016 and goals from Stephan Lichtsteiner, Juan Cuadrado and Gonzalo Higuain were among the other entrants in the top 10, voted for by fans.