Fans react on Twitter as Derby County’s Mason Bennett is overlooked for FIFA Puskas Award

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The Rams striker scored a superb goal against Wigan at Pride Park last season but was not included in the ten-goal shortlist.

A number of Derby County fans have taken to Twitter to comment on the Rams’ light-hearted rebuke of FIFA for not including Mason Bennett’s superb goal against Wigan Athletic last season in the running for the Puskas Award.

The 23-year-old scored a sensational effort in the 2-1 Championship win over the Latics back in March, a twisting overhead volley which put the Rams back on level terms just after the hour, cancelling out Gavin Massey’s opener.

Bennett’s goal was widely acclaimed by many fans but, despite this and the clear beauty of the effort, it did not feature in FIFA’s ten-goal shortlist for the best goal of the year, leaving some supporters truly baffled as to how it could have been overlooked.

Here is Derby’s take on the omission, plus reaction from some of the Pride Park faithful:

Even some neutrals thought Bennett and the Rams had been hard done by:

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah won last year’s Puskas Award, while other past winners since its creation in 2009 have included Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, James Rodriguez, Olivier Giroud as well as 2019 nominee Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Two goals from the United Kingdom have made this year’s shortlist – Crystal Palace’s Andros Townsend against Premier League champions Manchester City and Cliftonville Ladies’ Billie Simpson against Sion Swifts Ladies.