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Goal of the year: the winner

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Goal of the year: the winner
Goal of the year: the winner
Goal of the year: the winner

The date is Saturday 13 February 2016, the place is Juventus Stadium and the objective is that of overhauling Napoli at the top of the table. The Bianconeri’s 100 per cent record in the league since 31 October had eaten away at the Partenopei’s previously imperious lead at the Serie A summit to go within two points of Maurizio Sarri’s men ahead of kick-off and matters looked destined to remain that way after 88 minutes of arguably the tensest, most closely-matched encounter of the season.

That is until Simone Zaza, a constant menace from the moment he came off the bench half an hour earlier, decided to take matters into his own hands. Collecting Patrice Evra’s in-field pass, the feisty forward spun into space on the edge of the Partenopei box and unleashed with power and precision to get the better of Pepe Reina to send more than three quarters of the stadium into a state of utter delirium.

The moment that saw the Bianconeri claim top spot in Serie A for the first time this season is the unanimous winner of Juventus’ goal of the year award, receiving 35 per cent of fans’ votes across the club’s English, Arabic, Indonesian, Italian and Spanish language websites.

In second place with an overall 21 per cent stake was Juan Cuadrado’s coolest of finishes following some heart-stopping build-up play by Alvaro Morata in the Old Lady’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

Zaza’s destiny-defining strike it was, however, to take the spoils 10 weeks after it scooped February’s goal of the month award. On that occasion, supporters were treated to the illustrative recreation of the forward’s now famous match-winner, produced by Off-Foot Soccer and Love Science Music, certainly worthy of another viewing below.

Congratulations, Simone!

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