Platini's anti-Ronaldo stance baffles Arbeloa

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Platini's anti-Ronaldo stance baffles Arbeloa

The Uefa chief suggested the Ballon d'Or should go to a German due to their World Cup win, but the Real Madrid defender does not understand his reasoning

Alvaro Arbeloa is baffled that Uefa president Michel Platini believes a Germany star should win the Ballon d'Or, and not his Real Madrid team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo.
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Germany stormed to World Cup success this summer and Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Thomas Muller, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos and Mario Gotze have been nominated for the award from that victorious 23-man squad.

However, Ronaldo remains the bookmakers' favourite after a stellar 12 months in which he fired Real Madrid to La Decima and continued his goalscoring heroics into the 2014-15 season.

Ronaldo's World Cup group stage exit with Portugal may count against him if Platini's comments are echoed by voters for the Ballon d'Or award - a notion which Arbeloa cannot comprehend and he suggested anyone who thinks otherwise is clueless.

"With all due respect, I can’t understand how the president of Uefa can express a personal opinion about an issue like this, or take up a position in that way," the Real Madrid full-back, 31, told reporters at a book launch on Thursday.

"The winner of this year’s Ballon d’Or already has a name. To be honest it’s a shame for the organizers that this year, there’s not really much debate about who should win the Ballon d’Or.

"Everyone in the football world would agree that Cristiano has been the best player - by a long distance. His year has been quite simply spectacular and he has pulverised goalscoring records in the Champions League.

"I’m not saying this just because we are team mates - anyone who knows even just a little bit about the subject would agree that the winner has to be Cristiano."

The Ballon d'Or shortlist will be whittled down to three names on Monday before January 12's ceremony.