Ancelotti asks FIFA boss Blatter to 'keep his mouth shut'

Real Madrid football team manager Carlo Ancelotti has asked FIFA president Sepp Blatter to keep his mouth shut after the world football governing body boss insisted that Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer should be crowned footballer of the year.

Blatter's opinion affronted Ancelotti, who thinks his star player, Cristiano Ronaldo, is a shoo in for a second successive Ballon d'Or award. The Portuguese fired a record 17 goals in the European Champions League last season as Real won its 10th crown and Ancelotti is in no doubt the award should be his.

Ancelotti said that it has surprised him what the FIFA president has said and it appears that Blatter is unable to keep his mouth shut. He added that the Ballon d'Or is something that gets talked about months before yet this year there are not that many things to think about, CNN reported.

He said that last year Ronaldo had other players like Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery contesting it but this year, with the titles he has won and the goals he has scored, there's no doubt he is going to win it.

Therefore, Ancelotti added that Blatter's words don't make any sense.

On a visit to 2018 World Cup host Russia, Blatter suggested Neuer should be handed the gong after a string of exceptional performances for Germany on its way to a World Cup triumph in Brazil.

FIFA's president had also suggested the Bayern Munich stopper should have been handed the Golden Ball award, given to the World Cup's best player, rather than Barcelona striker Messi, the report added.