Barcelona attacker Luis Suarez has argued that if his behaviour at the World Cup was enough to rule him out of contention for this year's Ballon d'Or, then others who had a poor tournament should also be penalised in the voting.
Suarez was an early front-runner for the award as his form for Liverpool ensured he shared the 2013-14 Golden Shoe award as Europe's top goal scorer last season with Cristiano Ronaldo. However his biting of Italy's Giorgio Chiellini while playing for Uruguay at the World Cup put paid to his chances.
Ronaldo is now the clear favourite to retain the prestigious individual award, due to his contribution to Real Madrid's "Decima" Champions League win last season, and his outstanding goal-scoring record (58 goals in 56 games) so far in the current campaign. The Portugal captain had a disappointing tournament in Brazil however, with injury hampering his performances as his country exited early from a group containing Ghana, Germany and United States.
Suarez said in an interview with Mundo Deportivo that he now accepted his World Cup behaviour had hurt his Ballon d'Or chances, but other players' displays in Brazil should also be taken into account.
"If you go from January to December, you must put in the World Cup and I believe my attitude at the World Cup was not good, and it is possible it is because of that," Suarez said.
"But if you are going to look at what happened at World Cup you should include all the players, not just me. There were some who won it and some who were knocked out in the first round. We should be clear in these things. But well, it has happened, I was not on the [23-man] shortlist, but I did not really expect to be."
Suarez said his new Blaugrana teammate Lionel Messi should now be favourite for the award, although insisted that Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer would also be a deserving winner.
"For me it is clear: as a teammate I would be delighted for Messi to win, and he is the favourite," he said. "I do not know who will win. Neuer is deserving as World Cup winner, he has shown he is a great keeper. The same with Cristiano, everyone knows what he has done and is doing day to day, and he could have a chance.
"But for me there is no doubt. For the year Leo has had, for the injuries he had and the time he was out, and to still to score those goals, for what he did with Argentina, and for what he is doing, I believe he has done enough to deserve to win."
Asked if he was continuing to receive counselling to ensure similar incidents did not occur again, Suarez did not respond directly, but admitted to being aware of being under the spotlight when he was on the pitch.
"I am continuing to work on things I still need to control a bit," he said. "You are aware of the magnitude of what I did, and also what can happen today with so many eyes watching you, twice or three times more than before. You must be more intelligent and not do things so you are not criticised."
The 27-year-old denied that such attempts to control his temper were the reason for a disappointing goal-scoring start to this Barca career -- he has managed just one in his first eight games.
"I don't think so," he added. "My way of playing, to fight and to try and win every ball, nobody can take away from me, that is what has got me to this stage. If I must control myself in some situations that might not help me, but I do not believe this has much influence."
Suarez also rejected a suggestion that he might be concerned at how he had to adapt his own playing style while playing in a frontline with fellow superstars Messi and Neymar.
"It does not change, it is a question of adapting to the movements they make and I make, so that they can play me the ball," he said. "But this comes with time, during the game, that is when you see the situations. But it is not something which worries me, because the team is going well."