The Swede was awarded for his overhead kick form outside the area against England
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who did not make the final shortlist of three players for this year’s Ballon d’Or, did not leave the event in Zurich empty-handed. As well as being selected as one of the three strikers in the World XI, alongside Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, he won the Puskas Award for the best goal scored in 2013.
“I’m really proud to be here tonight and I would like to congratulate all the nominees. Good luck to the guys up for the big award (Ballon d’Or – Messi, Ronaldo and Ribéry). I want to thank all of those who voted,” said the 32-year-old PSG star.
Neymar – in the running for best goal for the fourth consecutive year and who won the award in 2011 for a goal he scored for Santos against Flamengo – was up for the award again following his superb strike from outside the area for the Seleção against Japan in last year’s Confederations Cup.
The Serbian holding-midfielder Matic was up for the award for a goal he scored for Benfica over rivals Porto following a smooth exchange of passes and an excellent finish.
