Swiss lawyer Lorenz Erni, who is defending Blatter, claimed the 86-year-old's acquittal was the only possible outcome when speaking at the Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona, according to reports.

"The accusation brought against Mr. Blatter by the MPC [Public Ministry of the Confederation] is so absurd," said Erni in a report by Le Monde.

"It is so clear, that it can be demonstrated in a few minutes that only acquittal is possible."

Erni reportedly argued that the money was transferred to Platini in 2011 for consultancy work, insisting there was no other reason for the payment.

It was also reported that Erni claimed a written contract had been made for an annual indemnity of CHF300,000 (£250,000/$310,000/€295,000) due to FIFA's financial situation, but said Blatter verbally agreed with Platini to pay the arrears later.

The lawyer's comments came after former FIFA finance director Markus Kattner testified that he believes the payment between Blatter and Platini was legitimate.

Kattner told the court earlier this week that he remembered the payment but did not alert the federal authorities due to being convinced it was legal.

Blatter said earlier in the trial that the payment was part of a "gentleman's agreement" with Platini.

Platini, UEFA President from 2007 until 2015, signed a written contract with FIFA for an annual salary of CHF300,000 as Blatter's technical adviser in 1999, which was paid in full by the governing body.

FIFA lawyer Catherine Hohl-Chirazi told the court that the payment of CHF2 million (£1.6 million/$2 million/€1.9 million) in 2011 was not ratified or even discussed, and Platini did not announce that he had received the fee, as reported by Swiss newspaper Le Temps.

According to Le Temps, Hohl-Chirazi suggested that FIFA had been "cheated with shrewdness" and asked for just less than CHF2.23 million (£1.87 million/$2.30 million/€2.2 million) to be paid in compensation.

Blatter and Platini were banned for eight years by the FIFA Ethics Committee in relation to the payments in 2015, with this reduced to six years on appeal.

The Swiss prosecutor's office demanded in court on Wednesday (June 15) that both former administrators be handed a suspended jail sentence of one year and eight months, far short of the maximum five-year prison sentence which the charges carry if found guilty.

Both men have always denied any wrongdoing.

Blatter led FIFA from 1998 until 2015 when he fell from power amid a mass of corruption scandals at the organisation.

Platini, elected as UEFA President in 2007, had hoped to replace Blatter as FIFA President, but his campaign was undermined by the alleged illegal payment and his career as a football administrator also ended in disgrace.

A decision from the court in the southern Swiss city is expected on July 8, after the trial opened last Wednesday (June 8).

The case has been billed as football's "trial of the century".