Matthew Burrows is a former professional

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player from Northern Ireland who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Burrows scored a jumping backheel volley goal against

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

to seal victory for Glentoran in injury-time of a match on 5 October 2010. The "astonishing goal" came from the back of Burrows' heel from 16 yards out in mid-air. The goal received international acclaim, with millions viewing the goal on

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, and football programmes around the world broadcasting the goal to audiences unfamiliar with the Irish league. The goal drew comparisons with the likes of

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

and

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

. The goal was shortlisted for the 2010

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, which honours the player judged to have scored the "most beautiful" goal of the year. However, Burrows lost out at the

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awards ceremony on 10 January 2011 to

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and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

midfielder

Hamit Altıntop Hamit Altıntop (; born 8 December 1982) is a Turkish former professional footballer and current board member of the Turkish Football Federation. He was a versatile midfielder who could play either in a defending or attacking role and on both ...

, for his volleyed goal in Turkey's

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game against

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on 3 September 2010. In January 2012, he asked to go out on loan. After no club would meet his entire salary costs, he asked to be released from Glentoran. This request was granted and he agreed terms and signed for Glenavon until the end of the season.

Personal life

Burrows attended

Priory Integrated College Priory Integrated College or more commonly known as Priory College or simply Priory is a secondary school located on My Lady's Mile, in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland. It is a co-educational integrated college taking in 11- to 18-year- ...

Holywood Holy Wood or Holywood may refer to: Places * Holywood, County Down, a town and townland in Northern Ireland ** Holywood, County Down (civil parish), a civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland ** Holywood railway station (Northern Ireland) * ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burrows, Matty 1985 births Living people Association footballers from County Down Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Men's association football forwards Sportspeople from Newtownards Dundela F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players Glenavon F.C. players Ards F.C. players