UEFA have released the shortlist for their 2017/18 goal of the season competition, with eleven strikes put forward for the award. The goals span various leagues and countries, with two futsal entries, two female nominations and a couple of goals from youth leagues.
Christian Eriksen's strike against Ireland at the Aviva is one of the more prominent picks, along with Cristiano Ronaldo's bicycle kick versus Juventus, though Gareth Bale's similarly spectacular bicycle kick against Liverpool in last May's Champions League final is notable by its omission.
Indeed a lot of the picks are curious, with Elisandro's futsal strike particularly unremarkable. It seems like UEFA have opted for a good spread of goals across all different leagues and disciplines which, in truth, makes for a pretty average selection.
Uefa Goal of the Season nominations:
- Lucy Bronze (Lyon 1-0 Manchester City)
- Olga Carmona (Switzerland 0-2 Spain)
- Elisandro (Sporting CP 2-5 Inter)
- Elliot Embleton (Turkey 2-3 England)
- Christian Eriksen (Republic of Ireland 1-5 Denmark)
- Paulo Estrela (Porto 5-1 Besiktas)
- Eva Navarro (Germany 0-2 Spain)
- Dimitri Payet (Marseille 5-2 Leipzig)
- Goncalo Ramos (Slovenia 0-4 Portugal)
- Ricardinho (Portugal 4-1 Romania)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus 0-3 Real Madrid)
Though there is a logic behind Bale's snub, however contrary. The rules of the competition state that only one goal from each league/competition can be nominated, meaning that the bigwigs in UEFA deemed Ronaldo's effort better than Bale's, therefore the Portugese gets the nod for the shortlist.
The decision is very harsh on the Welshman, and there is a strong case to be made that the 29-year-old's effort was more important than Ronaldo's as well as being more difficult to execute.
You can watch all ten of the goals on UEFA's shortlist here, and vote for your favourite goal here.
