Zurich, May 28 (Reuters): Uefa president Michel Platini delivered one of his most emotional and animated performances since his playing days when he said it was time for Sepp Blatter to quit as president of Fifa.

But Blatter flatly rejected the call.

Platini, one of the greatest footballers of all time, said he had told Blatter to go "with tears in my eyes".

"I said, 'I'm asking you to leave, Fifa's image is terrible'. He said that he couldn't leave all of a sudden," Platini told reporters.

With Fifa facing the worst crisis in its 111-year history, Platini said he began his long relationship with Blatter in 1998 by which time he had swapped his France shirt to become the organiser of the 1998 World Cup in France.

"I have affection for Mr Blatter, and he always said he was like an uncle to me. But enough is enough.

"If I cannot tell him it is time to stop, then who can? A true friend can tell another friend the reality."

He said the futile conversation with Blatter took place during an emergency committee meeting earlier today.

Platini added: "I'm saying this with sadness and tears in my eyes, but there have been too many scandals, Fifa doesn't deserve to be treated this way."

Platini suggested Uefa could withdraw from Fifa if huge changes are not brought in to world soccer's embattled governing body.

Platini, who decided last August to stand for re-election as Uefa president and not run for the Fifa presidency, originally was a close ally of Blatter.

In a bullish speech opening a Fifa Congress in Zurich, Blatter said the turbulence of the last two days, which included the arrest of leading soccer officials at their luxury Swiss hotel, had brought "shame and humiliation" to world soccer.

Making his first public appearance since Wednesday's dramatic events, which were triggered by a US-led investigation into allegations of rampant bribe-taking, Blatter said there was no room "for corruption of any kind".

"The events of yesterday have cast a long shadow over football and this Congress," said Blatter, who is standing for a fifth mandate as Fifa president in Friday's election, where Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan is his only challenger.

But ignoring calls to step down, Blatter said: "I know many people hold me ultimately responsible... (but) I cannot monitor everyone all the time. If people want to do wrong, they will also try to hide it."

Platini said 45 or 46 of Uefa's 53 member associations would vote for Prince Ali.

But it appeared that Blatter still commanded enough of Fifa's 209 national associations to secure victory.

A Cold War-era shadow also crept up on the scandal with Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing the US of meddling outside its jurisdiction.

Putin said: "If anything happened, it did not happen on US territory and the United States has nothing to do with it. This is yet another blatant attempt (by the United States) to extend its jurisdiction to other states."

The Russian President defended his country's right to host the 2018 soccer World Cup and said the arrests of Fifa officials in Switzerland yesterday were an "obvious attempt" to prevent Blatter's re-election tomorrow.

Swiss authorities have announced a criminal investigation into the awarding of the next two World Cups, being hosted in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

After hosting the Winter Olympics in Sochi last year, the World Cup will be a chance for Russia to showcase itself as a global power at a time of deteriorating relations with the West over the crisis in Ukraine.

Putin said Blatter had been pressured to strip Russia of its rights to host the 2018 World Cup and lambasted Washington's extradition requests.

"Unfortunately, our American partners use such methods to achieve their selfish aims and illegally persecute people," he said, citing former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, both of whom have evaded prosecution in the US by hiding abroad.

"I do not rule out that in the case of Fifa, it's exactly the same," Putin said.

The Asian and African confederations backed Blatter and said the election should go ahead but the Europeans are opposing him.

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said the vote should be delayed in light of the corruption investigation.

British Prime Minister David Cameron backed Prince Ali's candidacy to be the next Fifa president. Britain has long been a critic of Fifa and unsuccessfully bid for the 2018 World Cup which was awarded to Russia.