Dominic Fifieldmeets Chelsea's midfielder who despite the chance to reach another cup final lists the league as the main priority
THURSDAY AFTERNOON at a sun-drenched Cobham and the opinions expressed are brutally honest. A troubled week in which Premier League involvement in the Champions League was prematurely curtailed is “good for the competition”. Chelsea have an FA Cup semi-final to play but, should that prove to be the only silverware they secure this season, it “would still not be enough”. The priority is now the title but, even in that pursuit, “any little sign of weakness and it’ll be gone”. Typical German? Typical Michael Ballack.
The midfielder had arrived at training that morning to be greeted by a sniggering Frank Lampard and Joe Cole, both of whom had been tickled by Alex Ferguson’s embittered comments, in the wake of Manchester United’s elimination to Bayern Munich the previous night, that Germans are more prone to surround match officials and draw decisions.
Ballack himself had been oblivious to the furore having watched the game on a German satellite channel. “Lampsy and Joe were laughing about that, and I did too when I heard what [Ferguson] had said,” he says. “There weren’t actually any German players around the referee, were there? That was a good result for Bayern Munich. Not for English football. United could have been 5-0 on Wednesday the way they were playing, but ended up going out. Football’s like that. When was the last time there weren’t any English teams in the semi-finals? It’s good for the competition, just as it is to have four different countries involved at this stage, and I’m pleased for Bayern.
“I played there for four years, I’m German, and they deserved it. They look strong and settled, and can smell something now.”
As, indeed, can Chelsea.
There is sudden clarity to the run-in, muddied only slightly by the Londoners’ continued participation in the FA Cup with today’s semi-final against Aston Villa at Wembley. Those competing for the Premier League title have become accustomed to embracing a dual pursuit over the final weeks of the campaign in recent years, their focus split while the possibility of claiming the Champions League remains.
Now, with the three clubs at the top covered by three points, with all jettisoned from Europe, the blinkers are on. Chelsea are braced to concede top place this weekend in anticipation of regaining it on Tuesday night when Bolton visit Stamford Bridge. Should they hold their nerve and win their remaining five fixtures, the title will be theirs.
Ballack is yet to claim a winners’ medal in the competition after moving from the Bundesliga just as United reasserted their grip on the Premier League. His spell in English football to date has seen Chelsea plunder two FA Cups and a League Cup.
To emerge from this campaign, where Carlo Ancelotti’s side have consistently led the division, with the retention of the Cup as their sole tangible success would constitute no success at all.
“For me, I can’t say it’d be enough,” he says. “The club have won the FA Cup twice in the last three years and, while it’s a trophy, the players who play for Chelsea want more, something bigger.
For us, that is the league now.
“It has become our main target. Normally, we’d be in three competitions after February and, for big clubs like United, Chelsea, even Arsenal, the main target is always the Champions League. Of course you want to win the domestic league, which is a very honest title – the others are easier to win because there are fewer games involved – but the Champions League, for all teams, is the most significant. Going out so early from Europe put us in an unusual position and allowed us to focus on regaining a trophy we have not won for the last three seasons. That is a big incentive.
“There are things that count in our favour. We have players with experience, and there is a real hunger there – we want it back. But you must balance that against the fact that, when you win something again, again and again, as United have done in the last few years, it will give them confidence until the last minute of the last game. The fact that there’s a third team involved just adds to it all. There are two opponents waiting for you to slip up and we have to remember that, sometimes, in football you don’t get what you deserve.
“You can perform fantastically and then, even just for a few games, your level drops a bit, you lose some points and that puts you behind. At the beginning of the season everyone thought Chelsea would be one of the favourites for the Champions League. We believed this as well. But we had one bad day – not a really bad day, but not a great day – against Inter and we’re out.
“The same thing can happen in the league. Show a little bit of weakness, the next team pounces and it’s gone. It could just be a bit of bad luck, or a decision that turns a win into a draw, and the title is decided. You can deserve a lot but, in the end, you have to deliver.”
Chelsea’s timing may yet be proved perfect. The hangover from the Inter defeat dragged into the subsequent draw at Blackburn, where those dropped points seemed so critical, but their recovery has been swashbuckling. Portsmouth and Villa, both fellow FA Cup semi-finalists, were thrashed before last weekend’s win at Old Trafford confirmed United are enduring their own blip. The Londoners attribute the turnaround to a lack of midweek European games, though the manager also deserves credit.
Ancelotti has been a breath of fresh air in recent weeks, all good humour and calm confidence as the pressure has built. Previous incumbents might have reacted differently, but the Italian offers a smile to the watching world and reassurance to his players.
“The coach is the guy who shows us in which direction we have to go, and everyone follows him,” says Ballack. “He’s the boss. Here, of course, he has a lot of experienced and responsible players who have won a lot to call upon, so it’s a walk together. This is working better and better. For this club – for any club – it’s so important that you can work with a manager over a long period, benefiting from that stability. In Ancelotti, we have a man with a fantastic reputation who will be fantastic both in the current situation here and for the future.
“It is working well. But, if you have a good relationship between the team and the coach, you have to win something. You have to show everyone that, yes, it’s true. Things are working well. Otherwise, if you don’t get the results, you start getting criticism and the atmosphere changes. Every club is the same.
“That’s why we want to win something. He’s got us playing back at the level we showed a few months ago, when everyone was really relaxed. Perhaps not having too many midweek games has helped that.
“Over the last month of the season we’ve only got one ‘English week’ – next week – with three games in seven days. Apart from that, we play at the weekend, and that allows us to prepare well. We always look strong when we can do that.”
The reference to “English week” is notable largely because Ballack, as Germany’s national captain and therefore not an obvious adopted Englishman, appears so at home in another country.
As a resident of plush Wimbledon Village, he points to the “great possibilities” offered to his family by life in London. “It could be worse,” he offers with a smile as he considers the acceptance he has found in England, following the likes of Jurgen Klinsmann and Dietmar Hamann as Germans who have won over English football in recent years. The countries could yet collide at the World Cup finals in South Africa, potentially at the second-round stage.
“Ours is a positive, healthy rivalry,” he adds. “Maybe we are more similar as nations than people think.” Ballack’s contract at Stamford Bridge expires in the summer with talks ongoing over whether he will extend his stay in west London to a fifth year.
“My relationship with this club is not finished but if, when I finish at Chelsea, I am left looking back having not won the title, I’d be disappointed. With this kind of team, you have a big chance to win everything. We must take that chance.”
And with that he is off, apparently running late for an appointment in Croydon. An anything but typical German.
Guardian Service
Bouncebackability Hope for Villa
Chelsea thrashed Aston Villa 7-1 last month but tomorrow’s FA Cup semi-final could still spring a surprise. . .
20 Jun 1954: Hungary 8 West Germany 3
4 Jul 1954: Hungary 2 West Germany 3
West Germany fielded a reserve side in the group stages of the 1954 World Cup. Their strongest XI triumphed in the final.
26 Dec 1963: West Ham 2 Blackburn Rovers 8
28 Dec 1963: Blackburn 1 West Ham 3
The old Christmas fixture list allowed for instant revenge. West Ham recovered from a pummelling to win away to the league leaders
12 Sep 1989: Liverpool 9 Crystal Palace 0
8 Apr 1990: Crystal Palace 4 Liverpool 3
Newly promoted Palace looked painfully out of their depth at Anfield but later beat Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-finals
25 Oct 1997: Man Utd 7-0 Barnsley
25 Feb 1998: Barnsley 3-2 Man Utd
Barnsley were savaged at Old Trafford in the league but four months later they put United out of the FA Cup in a fifth-round replay at Oakwell
