by Our Sports Desk

FIFA’s executive committee are set to discuss the possibility of postponing the presidential election at an emergency meeting in Zurich on Tuesday — as suspended hopeful Michel Platini came out fighting.

Several Fifa ExCo members including England’s David Gill, Germany’s Wolfgang Niersbach and Belgium’s Michel D’Hooghe called for the emergency meeting to take place, and the election date is set to be top of the agenda.

Uefa president Michel Platini, who was suspended from all football-related activity for 90 days earlier this month, said yesterday that it was “shameful to be dragged through the mud” and insisted that he is still the “the only one who can insure that Fifa again becomes the home of football.”

The former frontrunner in the race to succeed Fifa president Sepp Blatter saw his campaign’s hopes come crashing down after suspensions for the European chief, the mauled president and secretary-general Jerome Valcke were handed out by the Fifa ethics committee while it continues its investigations.

But any delay could aid his attempts to stay on the ballot paper.

And in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, Platini said: “I was suspended for three months, but what annoys me the most is to be put in the same bag as the others. I find it shameful to be dragged through the mud.

“For the rest, my lawyers follow Fifa procedures and will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if necessary.”

The most important investigations surround a mysterious £1.35million payment Blatter authorised be made to Platini by Fifa in 2011.

Neither have fully explained the reason for the nine-year delay in being paid for alleged work Platini carried out as Blatter’s technical adviser from 1999 to 2002.

“The story may seem surprising, but that is that,” Platini said.

Platini also suggested Blatter wants to “kill” him politically, but says he retains “a little affection” for the 79-year-old Swiss.

“I admired his policy,” the 60-year-old three-time Ballon d’Or winner said.

The 90-day suspension can also be extended by a further 45 days, taking it up until just six days before the Fifa presidential election is due on February 26.

But Platini maintains he and he alone is the man capable of turning things around from the top.

“I am the only one who can ensure that Fifa again becomes the home of football,” he said.

“But, whenever I approach the sun, like Icarus, it burns everywhere.”

Also on the agenda in Zurich will be the outcome of the 2016 Fifa reform committee’s latest meeting following a three-day session in Berne.