Lazaro scorpion kick named Germany’s Goal of the Year

Valentino Lazaro has won Germany’s Goal of the Year award for 2020, finishing ahead of the likes of teammate Florian Neuhaus in the vote held by TV programme ARD-Sportschau.

Gladbach fans already voted Valentino Lazaro’s scorpion kick in the 4-3 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen as the club’s 2020 Goal of the Year, with 73% of voters selecting his stunning goal. Now ARD-Sportschau viewers have followed suit, with over 115,000 people (35%) voting for the Foal’s unique strike as Germany’s official ‘Goal of the Year’. “I’m over the moon to receive this accolade. It really was a once-in-a-lifetime goal,” said the 24-year-old. He is the sixth Borussia player to claim the honour after Ulrik le Fevre (1971), Günter Netzer (1973), Harald Nickel (1979), Kasper Bögelund (2005) and Oliver Neuville (2006).

The loanee from Inter Milan came off the bench for his second competitive appearance for the Foals on matchday 7 at Bayer Leverkusen in the 63rd minute. His first goal for the club then came in the fourth minute of injury time, in spectacular fashion. Matthias Ginter let Patrick Herrmann’s cross go over his head to Lazaro volleyed the ball into the top corner with the back of his heel while falling forward – a so-called scorpion kick. “I just tried to hit it with my heel. I’m really happy that I caught it so sweetly and it found the back of the net,” explained Lazaro, whose goal was ARD-Sportschau’s Goal of the Month for November.

One of the players that Lazaro beat to the award was fellow Foal Florian Neuhaus. The Borussia midfielder’s long-range goal in the 3-1 win against Mainz 05 was named January’s Goal of the Month and claimed seven percent of the vote for Goal of the Year, finishing in fourth place.