Congrats, Ronaldo, but Ballon d'Or is tiresome

Cesc Fabregas says he and his Barcelona team-mates congratulated team-mate Lionel Messi for finishing second in Monday's Ballon d'Or and praised Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo for winning the prestigious prize.

Speaking at an event in Catalunya, Fabregas revealed he had not spoken with his colleagues about the Fifa award, but did say that he has grown weary of all of the controversy surrounding the Fifa award.

"I'm happy it's over," the attacking midfielder said. "We have to congratulate Cristiano for the trophy. The debate has become a bit tiresome and now we'll concentrate on the tough
month ahead.

"We congratulated Messi for coming second. He was out for several months and he still only lost by two or three per cent. But we haven't spoken any more about it."

And Fabregas says the Argentine's return is great news for Barcelona.

"He did what he had to do: he took care of himself, he did what was like a good pre-season [in Argentina] and he has come back strong," the former Arsenal skipper enthused.

"Against Getafe we saw some of his really good plays, like in the second goal. His return is great, great news for Barcelona."

While Messi is back, however, Neymar sprained his ankle at Getafe in the Copa del Rey clash and the Brazilian is now set to be sidelined for three to four weeks.

"We are happy it is not too serious," Fabregas said. "It looks like he will be back soon and that is also good news because he is an important player for us."

Cesc also looked ahead to Barca's last-16 tie against Manchester City in the Champions League and had words of praise for coach Gerardo Martino.

"City will be a difficult tie was for us because they are a great team, but we are confident in our abilities. Everyone will want to play in that one," he admitted.

"Martino will make sure we are ready. He is a very intelligent coach and he's very flexible - he speaks with the players a lot and he likes to debate."