Intro:

Fifa president Sepp Blatter praises Russia president Vladimir Putin in a visit to Sochi - as preparations for the 2018 Fifa World Cup are ahead of schedule.

Script:

Can you feel the love? Russia President Vladimir Putin and Fifa president Sepp Blatter were full of praise for each other the SportAccord General Assembly in Sochi.

Mr Blatter said: "Your organisation committee and you personally deserve five stars in terms of organisation, I must say, I'd like to say and I want to say.

You have talked about communication, we have very good ties but you also have provided very good international communication for the World Cup and I think it's great because the whole world becomes more and more interested in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia."

Mr Putin doesn't want to let him down, he said: "The scale of this championship (FIFA World Cup) is equal to the Winter Olympic Games. I don't know how our national team will perform, we will leave this matter to specialists, but the preparations for the championship is the task of official authorities. We will try not to disappoint either you, dear mister president, nor all the football fans in the world."

The world cup being there is enough to disappoint some politicians who have called for the tournament to be moved out of Russia but Mr Blatter simply said those who are unhappy should "stay at home" during the tournament.