Scoring With The Superstars

         Scoring With The Superstars - Penang winger Mohd Faiz Subri lived out his dream in Zurich, Switzerland, as he rubbed shoulders with the who’s who of the footballing world at the glittering Best FIFA Football Awards.

The 2016 FIFA Puskas Award winner was not only overjoyed to become the first Asian to be honoured for the most beautiful goal scored in a year, he was also thrilled with the “surreal experience” of meeting football royalty like Diego Maradona, Gabriel Batistuta and Sir Alex Ferguson.

But the 29-year-old’s biggest dream come true was his encounter backstage with idol Cristiano Ronaldo which really made his day.

“I couldn’t believe that all the stars I have seen and admired only on television were standing before me.

“Before the ceremony began, I took photos with the past and present stars. This is really a dream come true for me,” gushed Faiz when contacted in Zurich yesterday.

“Meeting Cristiano was the other highlight of the evening for me. He is my favourite player and I have watched his moves over and over again on TV.

“I was so nervous at first to approach him to take a selfie, but I didn’t want to let the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity go.

“When he agreed, I was delighted but tried my best to remain composed. After the ceremony, he even congratulated me.”

The Portuguese and Real Madrid superstar picked up the Best Male Player Award at the glitzy awards.

The Kedahan added that the other superstars were also nice to him but language was a barrier “because some of them were not fluent in English and I had the same problem too”.

“Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer even snapped the selfie of both of us using my handphone ... his arm obviously had the length advantage over mine,” he quipped.

Another highlight for the Malaysian was receiving his award from former Brazilian World Cup star Ronaldo.

“It was a great surprise to have the Brazilian football icon present the award to me.”

Faiz has promised to get back to serious work to prepare for the 2017 M-League season with the Panthers, who will open their Super League campaign against Selangor at the Selayang Municipal Council Stadium on Jan 21.

“I will cherish this priceless occasion for the rest of my life. At the same time it will give me a renewed vigour,” he said.

Before that, there’s one more thing to take care of.

“The first thing I will do is to frame up these precious pictures with the legends,” said Faiz.

His physics-defying goal in the 4-1 win against Pahang in a Super League match at the City Stadium in George Town on Feb 16, last year garnered 59.46% online votes, pipping Brazil’s Johnath Marlone Azevedo da Silva (22.86%) and Venezuela’s woman player Daniuska Rodriguez (10.01%) to the award first won by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.

Faiz and his family are scheduled to return to a hero’s welcome at the KL International Airport and later in Penang today.