SPIEGEL Interview with Michael Ballack 'Football Is more Aggressive in England'
SPIEGEL: Mr. Ballack, the manager of the national team, Oliver Bierhoff, says that you are a great
Ballack: talent?
SPIEGEL: That too, of course. Bierhoff says that you will have a great European Championship. Do you think so too?
Ballack: What can I say? I certainly hope so. But even that doesn't mean that we, as a team, will be having a successful European Championship. I was in pretty good shape four years ago, but we didn't win a single match. This time I wouldn't have any problem with not playing my best and winning the title nonetheless.
SPIEGEL: We've been hearing good things about you since you reached the semifinals of the Champions League with FC Chelsea. You're being celebrated by the media and fans alike.
Ballack: Well, okay. It's always important to be in good shape and at your best at the end of the season, when it's all about the championships. I didn't play for half a year, because of my ankle injury, which is why this season doesn't feel drawn-out to me. I feel fit and I'm highly motivated.
SPIEGEL: Are there other reasons for your strong performance?
Ballack: This is my second year in England. You get used to British football, but it takes time to grow into this type of team.
SPIEGEL: What did you have to learn?
Ballack: In England they play more directly, faster and more deliberately than in all other European leagues. When you get the ball it has to move to the front right away. There is a constant pushing, even when you're ahead, otherwise you hear and feel this grumbling in the stadium. And when you have the ball, they're more aggressive in England, but of course you also have to be more aggressive yourself. Our game wasn't really that focused on me at first. There were other dominant players.
SPIEGEL: Is there a brutal sense of survival of the fittest at Chelsea?
Ballack: There are more exceptional players than in Munich, and it's a constant fight for positions and roles.
SPIEGEL: Have you ever regretted the move to London?
Ballack: No, it's exactly what I wanted. If you do a 5,000-meter run, you're a lot slower by yourself than running in a group. Because you get pulled along during the tough parts. And because you have to keep up with everyone else. You only develop if you have good players next to you and when every game is a challenge. When I was with Bayern Munich, I won the Double three times in four years, and then we were often eliminated early on in the Champions League. I wasn't excited anymore about winning the German championship yet again. I was looking for a new challenge.
SPIEGEL: When you played for Bayer Leverkusen, your nickname was "Herbert," an allusion to the conductor (Herbert von Karajan). When you were in Munich, people were constantly debating what sort of player you are. Are you now a modern director?
Ballack: I'm a player who goes into what they call the "gaps" in England. I stand in midfield, play passes, run after the ball, get into the penalty box. Just like Frank Lampard does alongside me. Is that modern? Winning is modern.
SPIEGEL: That's what Otto Rehhagel (former manager at Kaiserslautern) says.
Ballack: You learn something from every manager.
SPIEGEL: When you were out of commission because of your injury, some people in Germany were under the impression that Chelsea wanted to sell you.
Ballack: That impression was wrong. At first I even had to defend myself against accusations that the ankle operation was unnecessary and that I had it done in Germany without permission. It was a difficult time, during which Chelsea lost two titles. When you're injured you live on the sidelines. You don't train, travel or play with the team. The longer it lasts, the more difficult it is to remain accepted.
SPIEGEL: Fear of the future?
Ballack: After three or four months, you ask yourself: Why do I still have pain? You get up every morning and hope that things will improve, at least a little. They try out all kinds of treatment methods and some of them are dead ends. Then you have to go back and start all over again.
SPIEGEL: When you were 16 and had a knee operation, a doctor told you that you wouldn't be playing competitive sports anymore. Did you think back to those days?
Ballack: Of course. It could've been over back then. If my career had ended this time, however, I wouldn't have been crushed. I would have just accepted it. I've spent 13 years playing as a professional, and I've made sure that my future is secure. Football is a contact sport, and it has its occupational risks.
SPIEGEL: What sort of a semifinal do you expect in the Champions League?
Ballack: An open one. Liverpool is focusing on the Champions League. As in previous years, the club is going easy on seven or eight of its main players in the premiership leading up to the semifinals.
SPIEGEL: Is that unfair?
Ballack: They have no prospects whatsoever when it comes to winning the title, and they can concentrate on the Champions League. Their manager, Rafael Benítez, is taking a clever approach.
SPIEGEL: Is it true that players refer to Avram Grant, your Israeli manager at Chelsea, as "Average Grant?"
Ballack: I've read that.
SPIEGEL: Grant was an unknown quantity when he replaced José Mourinho, and he's considered a protégé of the club's owner, Roman Abramovich. Is this noticeable?
Ballack: If that were true, he would have had to let center forward Andrei Shevchenko play, because he's considered Abramovich's buy. But he doesn't do that.
SPIEGEL: Is the team successful in spite of its manager?
Ballack: Is that possible? The team certainly has enough class.
'German Clubs Haven't Won Anything in Years'
SPIEGEL: Just like last year, three English teams are in the semifinals in the Champions League. Does England rule the football world, or does the football world rule England?
Ballack: Both. The foreign players raise the standards in the Premier League considerably, but they also play the English way: powerfully, forcefully and with determination.
SPIEGEL: Is the Bundesliga's poor performance purely the result of a lack of money, or are Joachim Löw and Oliver Bierhoff right when they say that this is nothing but an excuse for Bundesliga managers?
Ballack: Up to a point, it's possible to shape teams and get them to perform optimally by taking a methodical approach and working systematically. But to play at the very top, you need top players, and they cost money.
SPIEGEL: Bayern Munich invested significantly more than €70 million ($110 million) and has even hired Jürgen Klinsmann as its coach. How do you feel about that?
Ballack: I think it's a good thing that they changed their minds so quickly and that it's now been confirmed that stars are important.
SPIEGEL: Would you want to be part of it now?
Ballack: That question doesn't arise. I'm playing for an absolute top European club.
SPIEGEL: The Klinsmann era as national coach raised high expectations within that national team. And after a few successful qualifying matches, the Germans are already seen as favorites for the European Championship.
Ballack: But we're not. I expect to see Italy, France, us and perhaps Portugal -- which has the season's outstanding player, Cristiano Ronaldo -- in the semifinals. Things will be tight after that, and little things, even small chances, will be the deciding factors. But the pressure isn't nearly as high now. You also have to be realistic and recognize that the German clubs haven't won anything internationally in years.
SPIEGEL: Jens Lehmann, the national team's goalkeeper, is usually on the bench at his club. Many national players are out of shape.
Ballack: All of that can still fall into place. There are tournament teams that rise to the occasion as soon as things get going, and there are players who were long out of shape and then, when they join the national team, are suddenly playing the best games of their lives. Why should I complain? It's simply a fact of life that important players are injured. Torsten Frings is one of those key players, and he's just come back. If he's ready, then he belongs on the team. And we all hope that Christoph Metzelder will make it, as well.
SPIEGEL: He hasn't played yet this year with Real Madrid.
Ballack: It's not an optimal situation, but if Christoph Metzelder doesn't make it, we don't have anybody at the moment who could easily fill the gap. We should count our blessings that we have Per Mertesacker as a center back who, at only 23, is already a key player for the team.
SPIEGEL: Do you agree with our impression that not all players have continued to develop after the World Cup?
Ballack: Yes, but I have no idea why that is. I'm not constantly playing with everyone, after all. But maybe it's just normal that younger players sometimes lack consistency. They used to say that a player had to perform at the top of his game for a longer period of time before being allowed to join the national team, but that hasn't been the case for a long time. When I see how many international matches Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski already have under their belts -- pretty soon they'll have caught up with record-holding national team player Lothar Matthäus!
SPIEGEL: Cristiano Ronaldo is also young.
Ballack: That's true. And he's been playing at an unbelievable level for the past two years. There is always a path to the very top. But it's steep.
SPIEGEL: Why is Jens Lehmann the right goalkeeper for the European Championship, despite his lack of match practice?
Ballack: Because of his class. Because of his experience. He has the quality.
SPIEGEL: Still?
Ballack: He isn't losing it.
SPIEGEL: Is it Lehmann's good fortune that there is no obvious number-two player?
Ballack: That could be true. During the time when Jens was being attacked so fiercely, Timo Hildebrand was also having problems in Valencia. And now, in the 4:0 win over Switzerland, Jens has reinforced his number one position. The trainers also support him, and that's good enough. A goalkeeper needs security.
SPIEGEL: National team manager Löw expects you to give the other players "support." How does that work?
Ballack: The totally classic way: by playing boldly and well. And by being a role model to young players off the field.
SPIEGEL: Is it bells and whistles when the team management and psychologist refer to the European Championship as a "mountain hike?" They've even come up with a separate logo for it.
Ballack: Well, one man's encouragement is another's bells and whistles. We received a little folder with something about the team's goals. Let's put it this way: It's something that provides guidance but is not paramount. A mountain hike means that it'll be a difficult path. This sort of thing is helpful to some people, but less so to others. I have nothing against psychologists. But I've been playing football since I was six years old, and didnt grow up with that kind of attention. When I was 10 and wasn't playing well, the trainer chewed me out. That's all. I played well again in the next match.
SPIEGEL: You'll be almost 34 when the next World Cup rolls around in 2010. Could you be facing retirement after the European Championship?
Ballack: I'd like to play for Germany until 2010. That's my goal at the moment.
SPIEGEL: Isn't a football career over far too quickly?
Ballack: It happens quickly, sure. But it also keeps you young.
SPIEGEL: Do you have much time left over to enjoy life?
Ballack: Not much. You have two or three weeks after the season ends, but then you start getting ready for the next one. And then you have to fight for your spot once again. If I had the time, I would like to be able to spend more time savoring successes.
SPIEGEL: Where will you live after your career?
Ballack: Certainly in Germany again, and probably in Munich.
SPIEGEL: And what happens after that?
Ballack: I'll do something that I enjoy.
SPIEGEL: Are you a manager type?
Ballack: I think so, but whether I'd want to be one is another question.
SPIEGEL: Will you switch clubs again?
Ballack: That isn't part of the plan. But it wouldn't bother me either, because I have the most important transfers behind me. The decisions a footballer makes at 18 or 23 are the important ones, the ones that count. I can't make any especially big mistakes anymore.
SPIEGEL: Are there any athletes you admire for the way they ended their careers?
Ballack: Michael Schumacher. That was great. Or Marco Bode, who retired quietly at 33. It was an unannounced, calm and great farewell.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Ballack, thank you for this interview.
Interview conducted by Klaus Brinkbäumer und Jörg Kramer.