Cristiano Ronaldo favourite for Ballon d'Or as Fifa extend voting period. But will he show up if crowned winner? The former Manchester United forward's obsession with earning recognition for his talents is no secret, neither is his annoyance with Messi sweeping the board, year on year. And when Fifa president Sepp Blatter ridiculed Ronaldo last month by suggesting he 'spends more time at the hairdresser' when asked to compare the 28 year-old and Messi, it added weight to suspicions in Portugal and Madrid of a 'bias' towards the Barcelona player. Ronaldo's display against Sweden, however, has placed Blatter and Fifa in an awkward position. Clearly, Ronaldo cannot be handed the Ballon d'Or on the basis of one outstanding performance against Sweden, as majestic as he was in the Friends Arena. But with Messi recuperating from his latest hamstring injury, Ronaldo is free to embellish his awe-inspiring statistics on a game-by-game basis to make it virtually impossible for the national team coaches and captains, and international media representatives selected by France Football, to cast their vote elsewhere. Already 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. Over the next nine days, Ronaldo will undoubtedly improve his statistics further, but what he will be unable to do is deliver a trophy and that is his Achilles heel when it comes to beating Messi to the Ballon d'Or. Messi inspired Barcelona to the La Liga title again last season, with Ronaldo ending up with nothing. Even the Copa del Rey evaded him, with Real losing to Atletico Madrid in the Santiago Bernabeu at the end of last season. Franck Ribery, Bayern Munich's French winger, is another leading contender for the award and the former Marseilles midfielder can outdo both Messi and Ronaldo thanks to the haul of trophies he has won with the German champions this year. A Champions League, Bundesliga title and German Cup have been added to Ribery's CV this year and tangible success often counts for much more than individual achievements and statistics. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is another contender, having inspired Paris Saint Germain to the French title last season. 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 continues in his current form - he is now carrying Portugal as single-handedly as Diego Maradona carried Argentina in the 1986 World Cup - he will be a worthy winner of the Ballon d'Or. And 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.