Glens striker Matty Burrows in Zurich for Fifa awards
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Matty Burrows' sensational goal for Glentoran against Portadown was shortlisted for Fifa's goal of the year
Glentoran striker Matty Burrows will be in contention for the world goal of the year honour when he attends Fifa's annual awards on Monday night.
Burrows will rub shoulders with world football's elite including rivals for the Ballon d'Or Puskas Award such as Barcelona star Lionel Messi.
The Glentoran forward was nominated for his 15-yard back-heeled volley against Portadown in October.
Voting for the award took place on Fifa's official website.
Given the nature of the vote, it remains to be seen whether the Carling Premiership's small profile on the world stage will hinder Burrows' chances of landing the prestigious award.
Other rivals for the prize include former Chelsea star Arjen Robben and Arsenal's Samir Nasri.
When Burrows found out he had been nominated for the Fifa prize, named after Hungary legend Ferenc Puskas, he confessed: "The whole thing is unreal and it's only just sinking in.
"I think it's one of those ones if you tried it 100 times it wouldn't come off, but thankfully it came off on the night - I caught it perfectly," Burrows added.
"I knew it was a good goal at the time, but the next few days it went a bit crazy.
"It ended up on Youtube and got millions of hits and I was doing interviews with Talksport and Sky Sports and they were telling me there were people watching it in Brazil."
Other honours such as world player of the year will be handed out on Monday evening and Burrows is relishing the prospect of rubbing shoulders with some of the greats of the game.
"It would be surreal sitting beside (Lionel) Messi and people like Wesley Sneijder," he said.
A number of Messi's club-mates are expected to attend Monday's awards and Burrows is bringing a Barcelona shirt in the hope of getting a number of autographs from Camp Nou stars.
But Burrows will also get the red carpet treatment throughout his stay in Zurich with a limousine picking up the Glentoran striker and club chairman Aubrey Ralph on their arrival in Switzerland.
In order to look the part, Burrows has had a suit handmade for the special occasion.
In terms of the other main challengers, Messi scored his nominated goal for Barcelona against Valencia when he wriggled past three players before rifling into the bottom corner.
Nasri has been rewarded for a similar effort against Porto, while Robben's was a fine individual effort for Bayern Munich, culminating in a sweet curled finish.
Retired Netherlands captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst is also in contention for his spectacular 30-yarder in the World Cup semi-final defeat of Uruguay, as is South Africa's Siphiwe Tshabalala, who scored the opening goal of the tournament against Mexico.
Kumi Yokoyama of Japan is the only woman shortlisted, with the nominees completed by Neymar (Santos), Hamit Altintop (Turkey) and Linus Hallenius of Sweden's Hammarby, who in one fluid movement took the ball on his chest, flicked it over his head with his right foot and volleyed in with his left from the edge of the box.
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