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From The Sunday Times
November 5, 2006

Rhapsody in blue

Michael Ballack, once known in Germany as the conductor, aims to call the tune today in his first big Chelsea derby with Spurs

Joe Lovejoy
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Michael Ballack has yet to acquire a nickname at Chelsea, but that is probably about to change with his unwise revelation here that he was known as “Herbert” when he played for Bayer Leverkusen. Herbert as in “a proper Herbert?” No, as in Herbert von Karajan, maestro conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Germany’s captain wields the baton at Stamford Bridge these days and, at 30, is throwing himself into this first experience of life outside his heimat with typically Teutonic gusto. 

Pleased with the start he and his new team have made to the season, “Bertie” Ballack is looking forward to his first big London derby, at Tottenham this afternoon, but knows the atmosphere at White Hart Lane is unlikely to rival the acrimonious intensity of Chelsea’s Champions League draw with Barcelona in midweek. Some were surprised by events in the Nou Camp, where 10 players were booked in a match that should have been sponsored by Jacques Cousteau, but after a decade at the summit of his profession Ballack has seen it all before, and dismisses the antipathy between the two clubs as “normal” when one is trying to displace the other as Europe’s nonpareil. 

Nothing fazes this midfield colossus, not after going from a spartan upbringing in communist East Germany to multi-millionaire affluence in a Surrey mansion, and on £130,000 a week he could afford to smile when, on making a presentation to a schoolboy wannabe last Thursday, Jack the Lad told him where to stick his Chelsea, proudly declaring: “I’m a Man U fan.” 

At the same age, Ballack would never have been so bold. The son of an engineer, he was raised on the eighth floor of an unprepossessing block of workers’ flats in the concrete jungle that was Salvador Allende Strasse in Karl-Marx Stadt, renamed Chemnitz following reunification. His father was a decent amateur footballer in the Third Division, his mother personal assistant “to a man like Peter Kenyon” — the Chelsea chief executive. 

The German Democratic Republic (GDR) set great store by the kudos gained from international sporting success, and almost as soon as he could walk young “Micha”, as he was known, was identified as a potential speed skater. Football was his preference, however, and at 12 he entered a “sports schule”, where academia and the game he loved co-existed in comfortable juxtaposition. “The balance between sport and education was perfect ,” he said. “We had two hours of lessons, then two hours of football, then another three hours of schoolwork. The relationship between the teachers and the coaches was very good, and we were never allowed to miss our lessons. Everybody there recognised the importance of education. After all, it was not certain that I was going to have a career in football, so I had to concentrate on my lessons, too.” 

Ballack’s boyhood hero is an obscure one. “The player I most admired was Rico Steinmann, an elegant midfielder with Karl-Marx Stadt. He went on to play for Cologne and in Holland, and when I was in my early teens I dreamed of becoming as good as Steinmann one day.” While he was still dreaming, the Berlin Wall came down and the GDR ceased to exist. “I was only 13 and I watched it all on TV. It was an exciting, yet confusing time.” 

The specialist sports schools survived just long enough for Ballack to pass their equivalent of A-levels with distinction. Then his football career started with the local club, Chemnitz, in unpromising fashion. 

“In my first season as a professional we were relegated from the Second Division,” he said. “I played 15 league games. After that, I stayed on for one more season in the Third Division, which was regional.” Ten goals in 34 appearances attracted Kaiserslautern, who took him into the Bundesliga proper for the first time in 1997. “That was a big change for me, not just because of the relocation (near the French border), but in my private life. I was living away from home for the first time, a young man who suddenly had to look after himself. As a footballer it was an important step for me because I left the Third Division to join one of the top clubs in the country. 

“At Kaiserslautern we were the first newly-promoted team to win the league. I made 16 appearances, and although I was young (21) and new, I was on the pitch when we clinched the title, winning 4-0 against Wolfsburg. It was a wonderful feeling because we were such outsiders. Nobody have given us a chance of finishing ahead of Bayern Munich.” 

A great start it may have been, but it was not all sweetness and light with the “Lauterer” — more like sturm und drang — and after only two seasons Ballack was on the move again after clashing with Otto Rehhagel, the coach who subsequently won the 2004 European Championship with Greece. In the summer of 1999, shortly after his international debut, in a 1-0 defeat by Scotland, it was on to Leverkusen, where he worked under the man he still regards at the biggest influence on his career, Christoph Daum. 

“I have only positive memories of my time there, which was crucial to my development as a player and as a person. It was a first rate club, playing at the highest European level, and it was great fun playing with gifted footballers like Emerson, Lucio, Ulf Kirsten and Jens Nowotny. I’m especially grateful to the coaches, Christoph Daum and Klaus Toppmoller, for all they taught me and for having such faith in me. Daum (who left Turkey’s Fenerbahce last summer and is now working in German TV) is the best coach I’ve had. I’ve had a lot of managers, but the two years I had under him did most to make me the player I am. He didn’t talk to the other players a lot, but he did to me. He always took the time to explain exactly what he wanted from me. After training was finished, the two of us would stay and we’d do special drills to improve my touch and mobility. I learnt a hell of a lot from him.” It was at Leverkusen that Ballack started wearing the No 13 shirt, which he retains to this day. He explained: “When I went there it was Rudi Voller’s number, and he was retiring to become the club’s sporting director. He told me that nobody else would wear the shirt and that the only other number available was 15. I said, ‘I’ll have your old number’. It became special for me, and I’ve kept it ever since. Everybody says 13 is unlucky, but it hasn’t been for me.” 

Nevertheless, if Ballack’s memories of the Leverkusen years are “only positive”, they are selective ones. On the last day of his first season there, 1999-2000, he scored an own-goal that cost them the title, and when they lost 2-1 to Real Madrid in the 2002 Champions’ League final, and Germany were beaten in the World Cup Final six weeks later, the German press labelled him The Nearly Man. It took a transfer to Bayern that same summer to end all that. 

He chose Munich ahead of Real Madrid. Why? “I had an offer from Real, but Bayern had won the Champions League in 2001 and were even bigger then than they are now. Also, I thought it was best for me to play in Germany in the run-up to the 2006 World Cup. I didn’t see it as deciding against Real, more as a commitment to my country.” 

With Bayern, Ballack was anything but the Nearly Man, winning league and cup doubles in 2003, 2005 and again last season, when he scored 14 times in 26 Bundesliga appearances to take his final tally for the club to 44 in 107. Fittingly, he netted Bayern’s last goal of 2005-06, in a 3-3 draw at home to Borussia Dortmund. Manchester United then tried to sign him to reinforce their depleted midfield, but a protracted transfer saga — how many of the big ones are not these days? — took him to Chelsea on a Bosman “free”. 

He made the choice in the belief that Roman Abramovich’s billions and Jose Mourinho’s nous were likeliest to fulfil one of his two remaining ambitions, which are to win the European Cup and a major tournament, such as the 2008 European Championship, with Germany. Mourinho, who gets his man more often than the Mounties, was in constant contact throughout the World Cup. “He sent me text messages, wishing me luck, and another message of congratulations each time we won,” Ballack said. “After our defeat by Italy he told me we could be proud of the way we’d played. It definitely came across that he was the manager who wanted me most.” 

Pride did not ease the emotional nadir of going out in the semi-finals. Germany’s captain explained: “In 2002 we got to the final, but I was suspended after two yellow cards, and this year felt the same. There was one minute to go when the Italians scored the winner in our semi-final, so we had no time to respond. We knew we’d had a great chance to get to the final again, for any footballer there is nothing bigger than the World Cup Final, and I’d missed out by this much (he held thumb and forefinger an inch apart) twice. 

“Mentally, I was in a deep, dark hole, and it took me a long time to recover. We’d prepared for weeks, we’d played under a lot of pressure as hosts, and after so long at this level (he gestured above his head) it was not easy to cope with coming down so low. I needed time to recover physically, too. The way Germany played at the tournament was very demanding in that respect. It was a power-based game, requiring a lot of effort. We worked very hard and afterwards my energy levels were down and I needed more time than I had to recover. It was only three weeks before I started all over again, with a new team and a new challenge. But it was good for me that I had a new experience to focus on. If I’d stayed at Bayern, it would have been much harder to motivate myself. For me, it was the perfect moment to move.” 

An injury sustained during the Community Shield and a red card against Liverpool in September, with its consequent suspension, had not helped the integration process, but Ballack now felt he was up to speed in his new environment. “The game is faster here than in the Bundesliga, that’s the main difference I’ve found”, he said. “You think football in Germany is more technical, but it’s not a question of technique. The point is, if you play faster you make more mistakes. 

“All the players are good here, you have more world-class players than there are in Germany, but they make fewer mistakes in the Bundesliga because they play a slower, more measured game. You could play the same style just as well here if you wanted, but I don’t think the fans would let you. Here, if a player takes his time on the ball the crowd urge him to hurry up. They want action all the time, and seem to prefer a risky pass to a simple one. All the players know this, and feel pressure to play the way the supporters want. If you lose the ball here, the fans don’t mind as much as they do in Germany. As long as they see you trying something positive, and trying hard, they are happy. In Germany they are more patient. The reaction you get from the crowd is very different in the two countries. It took me a few games to adjust to the faster pace here, but now it is not difficult for me to play this way.” 

Adjusting to life in and around London was a different matter. “Going from the south of the city to the north can take two hours in the car,” Ballack said, amazement in his voice. “Going out anywhere (he has three boys, aged five, four and one to keep entertained) means planning the journey carefully in advance. This is one of the biggest cities in the world, very cosmopolitan with a lot of different nationalities. I find it very interesting but a bit bewildering. It is not like Munich, which is a lot smaller.” 

And Mourinho? Ballack had found the Special One unlike his public persona. “He is not at all as I imagined after reading about him in the papers. Yes, he stands up for his team at all times, but he is not arrogant, he can be relaxed and very amusing. Most of all, I’ve noticed that he says exactly what he is thinking, he is very truthful like that and you always know where you stand with him. That’s good, but unfortunately it’s not normal in football.” 

Mourinho abnormal? Barca would love that.