Ibrahimovic: Ronaldo & Messi favourites for Ballon d'Or

The experienced attacker sees the Argentina and Portuguese forwards as the favourites for the Ballon d'Or, while he's eagerly anticipating the tie between Sweden and Portugal

Germain star Zlatan Ibrahimovic feels La Liga duo Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo remain the favourites to win the Fifa Ballon d'Or this term, although he has insisted that it's no foregone conclusion that either the Barcelona attacker or his Real Madrid nemesis will scoop up the prestigious award.

The Sweden international believes that Franck Ribery has a good chance to win the award as well following his successful year with Bayern Munich, yet added that it will be hard for any voters to look past Messi and Ronaldo.

"Several players have a shot at winning the Ballon d'Or," Ibrahimovic told reporters.

"Ribery has had an amazing year and won everything there is to win. Then, there's Messi, who is pure talent and was born to do this – he's not a product of training. Ronaldo is also playing great.

"There are a fair few players performing at a high level, though from one week to the next, it's hard to look past Ronaldo and Messi."

For the moment, though, Ibrahimovic is focusing on his country's 2014 World Cup qualification play-off against Portugal, arguing that Sweden face a tough task to make it to next year's tournament in Brazil.

"I see the tie as two finals and we have to play well in both," the 32-year-old mused.

"People shouldn't focus on two players – it's Sweden against Portugal. It's all about the team and we all have to perform to get a result."

Sweden travel to Lisbon for the first leg on Friday, before hosting Portugal in Solna four days later.