A close friend of Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo has launched a furious attack on the Ballon d'Or.

Ronaldo's former Real Madrid teammate Luka Modric was awarded the gong ahead of the Portuguese at last night's ceremony.

Miguel Paixao, who is a big influence inside Ronaldo's camp, declared: "It is absolutely incredible what has been done this year. It is a great lack of respect towards the one who has really done more than enough to be considered once again the best. Many will say that I say this only because I am his friend, but no. It's more than that, I'm fair and I do not forget the facts.

"Facts that speak for themselves and that, however much they would like Cristiano not to win, they could never go over the numbers in football history and close their eyes to who really was the best player in the world for another year."