Top 103 Quotes & Sayings by Michael Ballack
Explore popular quotes and sayings by a German athlete Michael Ballack.
Last updated on December 3, 2024.
I had a great career. But not to win a big international title is also part of my career.
We know the history of players at Real Madrid and things are not easy at that club.
We have to focus on ourselves and if we play the best we can we can win the league.
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.
At Bayern you need other characteristics to assert yourself. Just being good is not enough there.
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.
I think if you play for Chelsea you have to deal with the pressure, everybody knows the expectations.
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.
Having 18 or 20 class players is a luxurious problem, and it doesn't mean that you have to play them all.
Football is not about possession or playing a nice passing game. Football is about winning games.
A lot of things have to come together to win a World Cup.
Italian teams are difficult to beat even if they play away.
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.
With a coach like Mourinho, it's probably easier for a club to get top stars.
I had a lot of emotional days at Chelsea, some that did not really end well, especially in the Champions League.
The first league game always feels different from the pre-season friendlies.
Players sometimes don't want to have this heavy weight on their shoulders to carry the team or to get asked in certain situations to have that responsibility.
Of course there should be training sessions open to the public, but not always.
As soon as I knew I was leaving Chelsea, our first thought was to return to Germany.
At 36 years old I can look back on a long and wonderful time in professional football, which I could never have dreamed of as a child.
Sometimes a new coach can find it not easy.
When I see Mario Gotze, his development does not go in the right direction. He has outstanding qualities, but he has not reached his potential for whatever reason. His charisma is not so good, fellow players, coaches, fans and the media do not feel that he is fighting against his current situation. He's more an introvert player.
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 wanted to go outside of Germany and I saw English football as a big, big challenge.
It's always disappointing to lose a final.
If too much harmony dominates, then aggression can get lost.
When you a buy a player like Ozil, you know his strengths and Arsene Wenger knows, I think, where he is at his best.
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.
When you are not winning, the coach is more or less the weakest person in the team who can be replaced.
Sometimes you can lose games unluckily or the other team is better than you and has a great day as well. That can happen in football.
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.
Everybody has to play for their team and accept his role, even if you are in a defensive position sometimes. That is the key if you want to have success.
I have said in the past that I would be happy to see out my career at Chelsea. I moved here to play in the best league in the world with one of the strongest teams.
It is something very special when you can win a league title, because it is the one that you play all year for.
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.
I think that's the philosophy of all top teams - to educate young, top players and to give them the possibility to play.
Chelsea is an ambitious club and it will always be possible that a coach and the players are competitive at the highest level.
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.
Sure, Mourinho was obviously crucial for my move to Chelsea.
Ancelotti showed in the past, that he can work with different teams and different players.
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?'
When evaluating the players, too little emphasis is placed on the individual. Reaction times are measured, stress situations are simulated, sleep behaviour is analysed, eating behaviour, how the body reacts - everything is available. The control over the players has got out of hand. They are judged on this data, albeit subjectively. That's madness.
I was on the lucky side of life.
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.
I've learned to adapt to the pace of the English game and a different style of football in the Premier League.
Germany is a nation which must always win.
It is not about the system, it is about how individuals perform on the pitch and whether they do the right things, so it is not as simple as just picking a system.
We should integrate the quality of ex-players at the highest level more in football, especially in the youth sector. That is absolutely crucial for me.
You want to win everything possible and you try it every year, but you can't win everything, we know this as well but we have to play good football, we have to get the best of our team.
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.
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.
For 17 years, I played at the highest level.
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.
It was a privilege to work with world-class coaches and fantastic players.
The Premier League is a different kind of league, in terms of physical play.
Things aren't always full of sunshine, there has to be friction at times as well.
You need a certain amount of inner aggression, a bit of anger about you and the others in order to give your maximum.
In 2006 I ended up at Chelsea on a free transfer, so Bayern did not see a euro for me.
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.
Football is not always harmonious.
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