Cristiano Ronaldo may boycott Blatter and his prize

Cristiano Ronaldo could humiliate Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, by boycotting the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Zurich in January, despite the surprise decision to extend the voting deadline for the award. Ronaldo has emerged as favourite to be crowned the 2013 world footbal-ler of the year with Fifa's Ballon d'Or voting extension coinciding with the Real Madrid forward's stunning hat-trick in Portugal's World Cup play-off win against Sweden on Tuesday.

The move by Fifa to put the voting deadline back to Nov 29 and allow previous votes to be recast has been taken as a result of a "low turnout of votes" from international coaches, captains and representatives of the international media.

It is understood, however, that -Ronaldo is considering snubbing the presentation ceremony on Jan 13 in protest at perceived bias towards three-time winner Lionel Messi and recent comments by Blatter, who claimed that Ronaldo "spends more time at the hairdresser" when asked to compare the two players.

Blatter subsequently apologised for the comments, prompting a lukewarm acknowledgement of his -contrition from Ronaldo, but the -Portugal captain has done little to quell speculation in Madrid and his home nation that he will stay away from Zurich, even if he is announced next month as being on the three-man shortlist to win the award. When asked whether his per-formance in Stockholm was -motivated by proving a point to Blatter, Ronaldo said: "I do not have to prove anything to anyone.

I think I have come to show what I am in the last years, scoring 40-50 goals every season, it is there for anyone to see and it reflects the player I am. Am I the best in the world? I am not obsessed with it. I try to do my work, both in the squad and the club, and give answers on the pitch."

Ronaldo's claims for the Ballon d'Or were supported by his Portuguese team-mates, with Miguel Veloso saying: "He is a machine. This performance -demonstrated once again his entire quality. There is no doubt about his value to Portugal.

It would be an injustice if Ronaldo was not the winner [of the Ballon d'Or]. He had nothing to prove in these two games because he has done an excellent job with the national team and his club. This was another example." Fernando Gomes, the Portuguese Football Federation president, said: "Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world and today proved it. He gave us an exhibition.

He has had an extraordinary year and he deserves to win the Ballon d'Or." Messi has won each of the three Ballons d'Or handed out by Fifa since it claimed ownership of the award from France Football magazine in 2010, but with the Barcelona -forward likely to be sidelined until the new year with his hamstring injury, the Argentine will be unable to affect the extended voting from the treatment table.

As a result, Ronaldo's display against Sweden has placed Blatter and Fifa in an uncomfortable position. With Messi recuperating, Ronaldo is free to embellish his awe-inspiring statistics on a game-by-game basis just when votes are being cast. This season, Ronaldo has scored 32 goals in 20 games, including five hat-tricks. During the calendar year, he has scored 66 goals in 55 games.

Franck Ribery, Bayern Munich's French winger, is another leading contender for the award and can outdo both Messi and Ronaldo, thanks to the haul of trophies he has won with the German champions this year. Ribery has added a Champions League, Bundesliga title and German Cup to his CV and tangible success often counts for much more with the voters than individual achievements and statistics.

But it is likely to boil down to Messi versus Ronaldo once again and the swift tweet from Blatter following Portugal's victory in Sweden, where he congratulated Paulo Bento's team and Ronaldo, may prove significant. Whether it was genuine congratulations or a coded message to massage Ronaldo's ego and repair the damage of last month's verbal spat, only Blatter will know.

But if Ronaldo con-tinues in his current form he will be a worthy winner of the Ballon d'Or. Fifa and Blatter know they must do everything possible to get him onside before Jan 13 to avoid the prospect of their most prestigious individual award being left uncollected by a player who believes he has been shown a lack of respect for too long.