Cristiano Ronaldo won the first FIFA Puskas award in honor of the legendary Ferenc Puskas. See how he won the award which was presented to him by Puskas’ widow and George Weah…

On Monday night, it was always likely that Barcelona’s Argentine forward Lionel Messi would be crown the FIFA Player of the Year 2009. However, Real Madrid’s Portugal attacker Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t left the event empty handed.

The decorated superstar took away the FIFA Puskas Award which goes to the player who scored the best goal of the season. It was given to him by former FIFA Player of the Year George Weah and by the widow of the legendary Ferenc Puskas, Madam Erzsebet Puskas.

120,000 football fans had the right to chose and vote on FIFA.com among nine other great goals. Michael Essien’s hot strike and Andres Iniesta screamer in the Chelsea v Barcelona game, Grafite’s backheel against Bayern Munich, as well as Fernando Torres’ unstoppable volley against Blackburn Rovers were all part of the ten-goals list.

But it was Cristiano Ronaldo’s 40-yard strike for Manchester United against FC Porto in the quarter-finals of the Champions League that came on top of all.

That particular goal helped Manchester United edge 3-2 past the Portuguese champions on aggregate after being held 2-2 at Old Trafford in the first leg.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who was all smiles during the whole of the evening, gladly declared on the podium:

“I’m very proud of this award. It is a great honor for me.”

Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to win the FIFA Puskas Award which has just been introduced by FIFA in honor of Hungary’s legendary captain Ferenc Puskas.

Speaking to FIFA.com later on, Cristiano Ronaldo reflected on the nature of that amazing goal which landed him the FIFA Puskas award. He affirmed:

“It was incredible… a fantastic goal. I wouldn’t be able to tell you how I scored a goal like that if you asked me.

“It’s just about hitting the ball hard and seeing the net flap. That’s all.”

Here are the full results of the top ten goals voted by the 120,000 fans:

1) Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid): 17,68%
2) Andres Iniesta (Barcelona): 15,64%
3) Grafite (Wolfsburg): 13,39%
4) Eliran Atar (Bnei Yehoda): 13,36%
5) Fernando Torres (Liverpool): 9,44%
6) Nilmar (Internacional): 8,71%
7) Michael Essien (Chelsea): 7,85%
8. Luis Angel Landin (Cruz Azul): 7,30%
9) Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal): 4,04%
10) Katlego Mphela (South Africa): 2,59%

Angela Asante, CRF Chief Editor