Football: Ronaldo shuns UEFA ceremony to help out Deportivo

MADRID - Cristiano Ronaldo will not attend Thursday's Champions League draw in Monaco despite being shortlisted for the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award.

The Portuguese was named alongside Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery of Champions League winners Bayern Munich as the three candidates for the prize, but has instead preferred to travel with his Real Madrid teammates for a friendly away to Deportivo la Coruna.

Ronaldo was reportedly unhappy at being overlooked for the award last year as Andres Iniesta edged out he and Messi after guiding Spain to success at Euro 2012.

The friendly in Coruna has been organised to raise money for financially stricken Deportivo who were relegated to the second division last season and were nearly demoted a further division for failing to pay debts owed to their players before the end of July.

Madrid had hoped to have Gareth Bale amongst their ranks for the match as a means of boosting the television revenue they are set to earn from the game.

However, there was still no confirmation of the Welshman's protracted move from Tottenham Hotspur to the Spanish champions on Thursday despite Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas saying on Wednesday that he expected the deal to go through "very soon."