Michael Ballack Quotes

We have to focus on ourselves and if we play the best we can we can win the league.

Mesut is an amazing player.

I was able to play for and captain my country.

It is something very special when you can win a league title, because it is the one that you play all year for.

Football has never been about young or old players – it is about good or bad players. If you’re 13 or 31 and good enough, you’re not too young or old.

In training, for example, when you feel your position on the team is in danger then you have to be fully focused.

I played at the highest level throughout my career and I’m happy about that.

I wanted to go outside of Germany and I saw English football as a big, big challenge.

If you want to work as a coach for longer term you need consistency, trust in the club and also the environment around the club.

As soon as I knew I was leaving Chelsea, our first thought was to return to Germany.

It’s good for your career as a sportsman if you watch other professional sports – how they’re behaving and how they react in difficult situations.

When you’re young it’s football, football, football. Then you get a family, kids come into things and you find you have a broader view of life. You get your inspiration from many different places.

It is really difficult, after Jose Mourinho, to work at Chelsea. It could cause a problem for any manager because Mourinho had such a relationship with the players and the fans.

To pass on your ideas and have an influence on a team really interests me.

Winning the league is one thing but for me it was always the dream to win the Champions League.

In football, if you have a big break after a disappointment you can stew on things, and that hurts you.

A team can have quality but it’s also about personality and how they can grow.

I would have loved to have had a farewell match, and would have wanted the DFB to make that offer. But certain people did not plan that for me. I have to accept that.

Of course, you want to win something and be as successful as possible as an individual player. It is normal to look around and think, ‘With what club can I achieve that with?’

The Premier League is a different kind of league, in terms of physical play.

For 17 years, I played at the highest level.

It’s always disappointing to lose a final.

I’ve had a few injuries and if you can’t carry on, that’s always a bad sign. Sometimes it’s bruising or sometimes it’s a nerve that stops you.

Italian teams are difficult to beat even if they play away.

You need a certain amount of inner aggression, a bit of anger about you and the others in order to give your maximum.

The main reason to come to England and Chelsea was to play with a great team. Money and the chance to live in a city like London are additional factors.

Having 18 or 20 class players is a luxurious problem, and it doesn’t mean that you have to play them all.

It was a privilege to work with world-class coaches and fantastic players.

You always need time to adapt to a new manager. But in football if you don’t get a result, you are under pressure.

Things aren’t always full of sunshine, there has to be friction at times as well.

As it is, in football if you are on top and winning games everyone wants to play well against you, put in more effort and beat you.

In 2006 I ended up at Chelsea on a free transfer, so Bayern did not see a euro for me.

But at [soccer] tournaments you tend to see novel, unanticipated trends coming through, with everyone watching each other like hawks and immediately copying anything new. What is really important for every team is to be aware of its own capabilities and find a style which plays to one’s own strengths.

If too much harmony dominates, then aggression can get lost.

Pogba is a great talent.

I had a great career. But not to win a big international title is also part of my career.

You don’t step back and have less motivation when you get older, the opposite is true. You become more focused, more professional in terms of things like looking after your body and more determined because you can see all the younger players coming up, looking for your place.

When I moved to Chelsea, it was a big, big challenge and experience for me at the time to play with so many good players.

I hope that people will remember me as a special footballer.

As German players we have something special inside us, because of our football history. We know we have to win, it is what is expected, so we have a good focus.

If you are a top player in England, the cult around you is bigger than in Germany.

I was able to turn my hobby into my profession, and I am thankful for that. But I have other interests beside football, and I can devote my time to them now.

The first league game always feels different from the pre-season friendlies.

Chelsea have given me the opportunity to play in a top team with top players, so I will try to be as successful as possible here.

A player can’t request on what position he wants to play, and it is the same with the captaincy. One should respect this, there are hierarchies.

I had a lot of emotional days at Chelsea, some that did not really end well, especially in the Champions League.

I didn’t join Chelsea to lose things. I came because the Premier League is the strongest in the world and I am playing for one of the strongest teams.

Of course there should be training sessions open to the public, but not always.

I like Daniel Sturridge a lot after playing with him at Chelsea.

People have weaknesses, we should accept it.

Very good players have no problem moving to a different country.

I can imagine finishing my career at Chelsea.

In the summer, during the holidays, there would be 5,000 people each day at training with Bayern Munich and that makes it hard to concentrate.