Bale baffled by UEFA award snub

Gareth Bale expressed his surprise after UEFA’s Goal of the Season panel overlooked his overhead kick in the Champions League final, joking that the governing body’s decision makers “want to be sacked”.

The goal put Real Madrid 2-1 up against Liverpool in Kiev and Bale scored again in the last 10 minutes of the game to help secure a third consecutive Champions League trophy for his club.

Despite the spectacular nature of his first strike, the panel adjudicating UEFA’s Goal of the Season award for 2017-18 opted to shortlist Cristiano Ronaldo’s acrobatic goal in the quarter-final victory over Juventus ahead of Bale’s goal, with only one nominee from each of the main UEFA competitions allowed on the list.

Bale told the Daily Mail: “I don’t know how it wasn’t on that list!

“I want to know who is on the panel because they want to be sacked.”

One week until we get underway in the @ChampionsLeague #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/YLjJdscW0m

— Gareth Bale (@GarethBale11) September 12, 2018

Ronaldo’s strike won the vote, with Dimitri Payet’s Europa League quarter-final goal for Marseille finishing second ahead of Eva Navarro’s curling effort for Spain in the Under-17 Championship final.

Bale was coy on the question of whether or not his goal was superior to Ronaldo’s, saying: “It’s not for me to say!”