Real Madrid defender Fabio Coentrao has played down Franck Ribery's chances of winning the FIFA Ballon d'Or, insisting that "you can't give an award like this" to the Bayern Munich ace.
The Frenchman is poised to contest the world's most coveted individual prize with Lionel Messi and teammate Cristiano Ronaldo in January.
However, with Ribery trailing his competitors in the goalscoring stakes over the past 12 months, Coentrao believes that the 30-year-old does not deserve the gong and believes the Portuguese is the stand-out candidate.
Speaking to Bola A, the Portugal international said: "Messi is an excellent player, but he has been out of action a long time and you can't give an award like this to Ribery, who only scored 22 goals.
"Cristiano Ronaldo has always been at the top of his game and scored [more than] twice as many."
The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Zurich next month.
Written by
Shane Callaghan
Shane Callaghan
