Blatter: I have made up with Ronaldo

 
Fifa president Sepp Blatter says he does not have a problem with Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo after the pair settled their differences over a telephone conversation.

The 77-year-old made the headlines for all the wrong reasons at the end of 2013 after saying he preferred Lionel Messi over Ronaldo, leading to controversy across the football world.

Blatter was forced to apologise to Madrid and Ronaldo after the incident and he has now made it clear that the situation has been resolved following a phone call with the Portugal international.

"We have had a conversation at the beginning of the year. I took the telephone and he was answering it," Blatter said during the Fifa Ballon d'Or Gala in Zurich.

"I wished him a good New Year and he said what's happened is in the past."
The Fifa president then went on to question the media's focus on Qatar 2022 when Brazil 2014 is just around the corner.

The ongoing saga over whether the Qatar tournament will be held in the summer or winter made headlines again earlier this month following comments by Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke. The official claimed the governing body was already working on moving the tournament away from its customary months of June-July to avoid the Middle Eastern summer.

Uefa president Michel Platini reacted angrily to Valcke's comments, but Blatter has now played down the spat, while revealing a sense of bemusement at the media's overriding interest in Qatar stories.

"It is interesting that the media go on about Qatar with eight years to go. We have the World Cup now in 2014 and it would be more interesting to talk now about the World Cup in Brazil," Blatter said at the Ballon d'Or gala in Zurich.

"It is now two years ago that Platini already said we shall play in winter. One year and a half ago I said we shall analyse the situation and, if it is possible, to go and play in winter.

"Now we have analysed the situation and what Valcke has said is not new.

"Perhaps it was not interpreted the right way but we are making all the consultations and they will be finished at the end of 2014 so in 2015 we can make a decision whether we will play in summer or in winter.