Polish leg amputee Marcin Oleksy still can’t believe his scissor shot won him the 2022 Puskas Award for Best Goal.
Oleksiye’s goal in the amputee players’ league won the approval of fans and experts, beating out Richarlison’s acrobatic World Cup goal for Brazil against Serbia and Payet’s long-range strike for Olympique de Marseille against PAOK in the European Conference League.
Oleksiy said on Tuesday after his return to Warsaw, “The day will surely come when I believe what happened. I can’t be happy after I beat Payet, Richarlison and Kylian Mbappe. There is Marchin Oleksi now.”
He added, “Honestly, I was a bit scared when I went to collect the award. There were a lot of mixed emotions. I lowered my head at first, took two deep breaths, and fought back the tears.”
He joked, “I invite Robert Lewandowski to a training session. I will show him how to score good goals.”
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In a press conference later, Oleksiy said: “I looked at the fans and thought, ‘Can you compete with Mbappe? Yes, you can! Is it possible to outpace him? It seems possible.'”
According to Oleksie, Mbappe, whose second goal was against Argentina in the World Cup final on a preliminary list of 11 nominated goals, is among the prominent personalities who congratulated the Polish player on winning the Puskas Award.
Richarlison also wrote on Instagram, “It was a great honor for me to be nominated for the Puskas Award. Congratulations Oleksiy the Flying. Your goal is a masterpiece and you are an inspiration to all of us.”
Oleksiye combines football with a full-time job driving field drilling machines and is the first leg amputee to win the award.