When Wendell Lira soared through a rainy night sky to score the opening goal of a mid-season match in a Brazilian regional soccer league, there were 342 people in the stands.
None of them could have imagined that the unknown forward, who was released by his club, Goianesia, several months later, would end up competing with Lionel Messi for the Puskas Award, FIFA’s prize for the best goal of the year.
Lira, 26, was startled when he found out — quite literally.
He had just left his house in Goiania, in the heart of Brazil, on Monday morning when a car suddenly pulled up and blocked his path.
He thought he was about to be robbed.
The driver got out, asked him to pose for a photograph and told him his stunning bicycle-kick against defending champions Atletico Goianiense eight months earlier had returned from the past to change his life.
“When I got the news, I didn’t believe it at first. Then my wife called me, crying, and I started crying with her. I couldn’t believe it. It was very emotional,” Lira told reporters.
Lira, schooled in the humble stadiums of Brazil’s lesser leagues, is to share the stage in Zurich, Switzerland, on Jan. 11 with Barcelona superstar Messi and AS Roma’s Alessandro Florenzi, the other two finalists for the award.
The prize, whose past winners include Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar and James Rodriguez, will be awarded during the Ballon d’Or ceremony for best player of the year.
At the time, Lira — who earned about US$1,300 a month when he scored the goal of his life — had been unemployed for three months, since the end of his season.
When Lira’s nomination started generating buzz, a leading club in his hometown, Vila Nova, signed him as its star recruit for its return to Brazil’s second-tier league next year.
“It’s changed my life. People know me, they want to take photos with me, they ask for my autograph and I’ve had new job offers, but thank God, now I’ve got a job. It’s crazy,” he said.
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