Ballack: Chelsea Is My First Choice

Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack insists he's eager to sign a new contract at Stamford Bridge.

Ballack's contract with the Premier League champions runs out in the summer but the 33-year-old remains confident his future will be resolved in the next few weeks.

"Chelsea are absolutely my first option," he told Germany's Bild newspaper.

"We are in contact with the club. The coach first of all wants to discuss things internally and then he will approach the players in a week."

Meanwhile the Germany captain insists his international career is not over, despite being forced to miss the World Cup due to injury.

Ballack picked up an ankle injury in the FA Cup final after being fouled by Portsmouth's Kevin-Prince Boateng and has been told he will not be able to play again for at least two months.

That diagnosis ruled him out of the World Cup, but it will not bring his international career to an end at the age of 33.

"I won't let my international career come to an end because of a foul like this," he said.

"I never said that I would retire after the World Cup. I want to continue playing at the highest level and I will consider things in calm over the next few weeks."

Ballack remains angry and upset about the manner at which possibly his last chance to become world champion was ended by a reckless foul.

"I gave everything for the goal of South Africa and now the World Cup has been taken away from me in a brutal way," he said.

While Ballack considers his own future, the national team coach Joachim Low is pondering not only who should take Ballack's place in his team, but also who should wear the captain's armband.

Ballack, who has flown to Germany's training camp in Sicily "to be part of the family" and "to help me come to terms with this blow quicker", had a few words of advice for the coach.

"Schweini [Bastian Schweinsteiger] has got to do it now and take on more responsibility," he said.

"He is self-confident and has the class. I don't see anybody else who shows such a presence and sets the tone like him.

"As for the captain, I don't want to add to the speculation - it is hard enough for the coach.

"There are (Philipp) Lahm, Schweini and (Miroslav) Klose.

"Miro has had an unfortunate season, but he has a high standing in the national team. His experience is important.

"And, being captain could give him a boost."

Boateng Blasts Ballack Offence

Portsmouth midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has hit back at accusations that he intentionally injured Michael Ballack in last Saturday's FA Cup final, saying the Germany captain was the chief offender for an earlier slap.

A dangerous tackle by Boateng saw Ballack's dreams of lifting the World Cup as Germany captain shattered, something for which the Ghana international later apologised.

But Boateng believes his tackle was nowhere near as bad as the slap he received from Ballack earlier in the game.

"There is my foul on the one hand and his slap on the other, and I think that violent conduct is far worse than a foul," he told Germany's Sport Bild magazine.

"Ballack really does surprise me. He complains for weeks when (Lukas) Podolski slaps him and yet he does it himself.

"He is no better than Podolski. What kind of behaviour is that?"

Boateng has also criticised Germany coach Joachim Low for showing mercy to his captain after he clashed with Podolski during the 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Wales in April 2009 while saying his foul on Ballack at the weekend should have been sanctioned with a red card.

"When I hear that, I can see that he has two different ways of seeing things," added Boateng.

"Can his captain slap whomever he wants? That was clearly violent conduct.

"If I had done that, I would have been banned for years. That is why I left the Germany set-up to represent Ghana."

Boateng switched allegiances earlier this year after realising he was unlikely to break into the senior Germany squad despite coming through the youth ranks from under-15 to under-21 level.

He is due to come up against Germany in the World Cup this summer when the two nations clash in their final group game in Johannesburg on June 23.

Mourinho: No One Beat Chelsea And Barcelona Like Inter

Jose Mourinho, speaking to the press before the Bayern Munich v Inter Milan Champions League final.

On the importance of the game:

“This game is the most important in the world. It is even bigger than the World Cup because the teams in it are at a higher level than national teams, who can’t buy the best players. If you hold it to be important, you have to transmit that to the players.”

On Inter’s tactics in the Champions League:

“I think that this season I haven’t seen a match like the one between Inter and Barcelona at the San Siro. I haven’t seen a team play the way we did. We attacked aggressively against the champions of Europe. We scored three goals against the champions of Europe.

We won the tie in Barcelona, but everyone talks about Barcelona winning and says we parked the bus in front of the goal. We didn’t park the bus, we parked the airplane and we did it for two reasons. One, because we only had 10 men and two, because we beat them 3-1 at San Siro, not by parking the bus, or the boat or the airplane, but by smashing them at the San Siro.

I haven’t seen anyone play the way we did against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea isn’t a small team, it is the champion of England and no one plays like that at Stamford Bridge. Only we have played two games of the level we did against Chelsea and against Barcelona.”

On Real Madrid:

“It’s not a problem of contract or money and that makes me slightly embarrassed because of what I earn considering the (world economic) crisis there is. It’s a problem of personal satisfaction, to feel respected or not in a football nation where I have had so many problems.

It’s not true that I’m the Real coach. After the final, I want to think about my future. Obviously, Inter cannot do anything more to make me feel happy and feel important. The players are fantastic, so are the fans and everyone at the club. The result of Saturday’s game means nothing.

My successor? The club chose me and chose well. At this time, I am the Inter coach. I have a contract until 2012 or 2013, I don’t remember.”

Mourinho to Real Madrid? Really?

It’s a story that’s been doing the rounds for months (if not years), and it seems likely to happen now, what with Mourinho fed up with Italy (the feeling seems mutual) and Madrid set to replace Pellegrini. The thing is, Mourinho loves a challenge and right now the challenge at Madrid is to beat the best team in Europe – Barcelona – and it’s a challenge he wouldn’t say no to.

He won’t get the control over the team he craves, but if he gets even one full season at the club he will build a winning system that will endure his departure (see Chelsea and to an extent, Inter). The press won’t love him (they never do until he leaves), the fans won’t always be with him but if he can win over the players and deliver on his (expected) promise to beat Barcelona, he’ll get his chance.

Drogba: I Will Win Another Golden Boot In The World Cup

Didier Drogba plans to take the World Cup by storm – and add another Golden Boot to his collection this summer.

The Chelsea striker has already won one award for banging in 29 goals to finish top scorer in the Premier League this season.

But he can’t wait to carry his goalscoring heroics over into the finals as the Ivory Coast go for glory in South Africa.

Drogba told Match of the Day magazine, on sale now: “Can I be top scorer at the World Cup? I really hope so. If we can get through the group stages, I think we have a very strong chance.

“It’s important that we do well as a nation but if I can win the World Cup Golden Boot as well, it would be amazing.”

The Ivory Coast striker, 32, is in the form of his life.

But his team have been drawn in a tough group with Brazil, Portugal and North Korea.

Fabio Capello: Joe Cole Has The X Factor

Fabio Capello believes Joe Cole is his maverick man with the X Factor. And that is the reason he is going to the World Cup.

Cole has already had one good week as Chelsea have landed the Double with their FA Cup triumph added to their first Premier League title in four years.

But with the celebrations over, Cole will now be champing at the bit to get to Austria and start preparing for South Africa.

The 28-year-old has become incredibly frustrated recently at having to watch so many of Chelsea’s games from the bench.

But Capello will now hand Cole the chance to make up for that with a place in his final 23.

Cole has always offered something different and the England manager knows that.

After his arrival as the first foreign England boss in early 2001, Sven Goran Eriksson revealed that it was Cole who he thought was the country’s greatest talent – Wayne Rooney was only 15 at the time.

He was drooling over the prospect of the star quality that Cole promised, and that has not just disappeared.

What makes Cole stand out from the other players he is competing against for a place in South Africa is his technical ability.

Theo Walcott, Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright Phillips are speed kings.

They suit the modern-day tactic of counter-attacking football which will no doubt dominate the tournament this summer.

They frighten teams with their raw pace, but the problem is that they are not always in control of the ball. Cole is.

Just like David Beckham, who defied critics to remain an important part of Capello’s strategy, Cole knows how to retain the ball. And at international level that is crucial.

Giving the ball away is a sin which England have paid for time and again in the past, but Cole has never been guilty of that.

Rooney has dominated the headlines for England since making his breakthrough as the youngest ever player to pull on a Three Lions shirt at the time he was handed his debut.

But the Manchester United striker has always maintained that it is Joe Cole who is the cleverest player in the squad.

And he emphasised that this season when he scored that brilliant goal at Old Trafford to help sink United.

It was a moment of brilliance, and one Walcott, Lennon and Wright-Phillips, as well as the highly-rated Adam Johnson, would struggle to produce.

He flicked the ball between his legs as a cross came in from the right and sparked the victory which won Chelsea the title.

It is hardly a one-off. Just look at the goal he scored in the last World Cup against Sweden when he hit a brilliant volley from outside the area.

Capello pointed out recently that Cole is not quite the ‘player he remembered’. But Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has been crucial in convincing Capello that the midfielder is not far off being back to his best.

England do not have many players who are gifted enough to drop off the main striker and help run the game.

Rooney is obviously that man for England and the world-class player that Capello will be relying on to spearhead the country’s challenge.

But if anything did happen to Rooney, a suspension or a slight injury, then Cole could be the man to step into his place.

He loves playing centrally and has the vision to pull off that role. He also has the experience.

It is no coincidence that Capello has spent so much time trying to persuade Paul Scholes and Jamie Carragher to come out of international retirement. He has succeeded with Carra and failed with Scholes, but it is their experience which speak volumes, even if their presence may upset some of the other players.

Cole is the same. He has 53 caps to his name and has been around the England scene for years.

He has the big-game mentality and just as important an incredible hunger and desire.

Having missed so much football due to his cruciate injury, the last set of fitness tests at Chelsea showed that Cole was the best in his club at the moment.

He is also out of contract this summer and while his future is a concern for him, he has always just loved playing football.

He may stick with Chelsea or could move on to either Manchester United or City – who knows?

But one thing is for sure, if Capello hands him his chance, it is unlikely Cole will do anything to waste it – which can only be good news for England.

Joe Cole To Go To The World Cup Afrer Ancelotti Persuades Capello

Joe Cole will go to the World Cup after Fabio Capello was persuaded by Carlo Ancelotti to take him to South Africa.

England manager Capello had lengthy talks with the Chelsea boss at the end of the season.

And Ancelotti has assured his fellow Italian that Cole is in tip-top form. The Chelsea midfielder was left out of the squad for March’s friendly with Egypt and it looked like he would be a major casualty this summer.

But Capello named him in his 30-man training squad, and he is a certainty to avoid the painful chop next week when the England manager names his final 23 for the tournament.

The only way the 28-year-old will miss out is if he somehow plays himself out of the squad in training and the next two friendlies. But Cole is in peak condition after missing so much of the season with injury, and struggling to make the Chelsea team.

Capello still believes that Cole offers him something different from the other wide men in the squad.

He is battling for a World Cup place alongside fellow wingers Theo Walcott, Adam Johnson, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Aaron Lennon.

Cole last played for England back in 2008 which was before he injured his cruciate ligament.

He is among England’s senior experienced players having already won 53 caps, and was one of their star performers at the last World Cup.

Cole has had a tough season as contract talks have broken down with Chelsea, and he can now leave Stamford Bridge on a free contract.

But he will be delighted by the news that he figures so highly in Capello’s plans, and that Ancelotti has spoken up for him.

England were at their high-altitude Austrian training camp yesterday working with oxygen masks in a bid to get them used to conditions in South Africa.

Michael Ballack Says His Germany Career Will Continue

Germany captain Michael Ballack insists he will play international football again despite being forced to miss the World Cup with an ankle injury.

The Chelsea midfielder was injured in the FA Cup final in a tackle from Portsmouth's Kevin-Prince Boateng, who has apologised for the incident.

"I won't let my international career come to an end because of a foul like this," the 33-year-old Ballack said.

"I will consider things in calm over the next few weeks."

Ballack, who has made 98 appearances for his country and played in the last two World Cups, has to overcome two damaged ligaments and is expected to resume training in eight weeks.

With Germany's first match on 13 June, the Chelsea star now has to come to terms with watching the World Cup finals from the sidelines.

"I gave everything for the goal of South Africa and now the World Cup has been taken away from me in a brutal way," added Ballack.

"It is bitter to be hacked down in such a way in the last game of the season. It hurts."

Ballack limped out of the FA Cup final on Saturday - a game that Chelsea won 1-0 - after 25 minutes following the rash challenge by Boateng, who was born in Berlin to a Ghanaian father and a German mother.

The Pompey midfielder, who could be in the Ghana side to face Germany in Group D in South Africa, insisted on Tuesday his tackle had not been intentional and he was sorry.

"I just came in too late and made full contact," he told Sport Bild online. "It looks pretty stupid."

German fans have vented their anger on dozens of websites, calling Boateng 'public enemy number one' and setting up chat rooms called '82 million against Boateng' or 'Anti-Boateng Group'.

Boateng's half-brother Jerome is in the preliminary Germany squad for the tournament which takes place between 11 June and 11 July.

Roman Abramovich Still Owed £726m Under Complex Chelsea Structure

When Chelsea published their accounts for 2008-09 earlier this year, the club announced that its owner, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, had written off his mammoth £726m loan to the club, and converted it into shares.

But is not quite as clear-cut as that. Abramovich channeled his loans to the club, since taking it over in 2003 and wanting to spend its way to trophies, via a holding company, Chelsea Limited. He loaned money to Chelsea Limited, who then loaned it on to Chelsea FC plc, which runs the club.

It is true that the loans from the holding company to Chelsea FC plc were fully converted to shares last year. However Abramovich's loan to Chelsea Limited, the holding company which owns Chelsea FC plc, was not. That loan remains owing; in fact it increased from £701m, because Abramovich loaned another £25m in a year when Chelsea's extravagant spending, and the dismissal of Luiz Felipe Scolari and his coaching team, produced losses of £47m.

The accounts of Chelsea Limited (whose name was changed during the year to Fordstam Limited), show that loan still outstanding: £726m, owed to Abramovich.

A spokesman for the club confirmed that yesterday: "Recapitalisation of loans happened at the level of Chelsea FC plc, not the holding company (Fordstam), therefore making the football club debt free."

That is true. But Fordstam owns the football club company, and owes Abramovich £726m. The loan is interest free, but it is repayable if Abramovich gives 18 months' notice. The Russian could still demand the money back some day, either if the club is making a profit, or if he were to sell it. He has not, in fact, written off the huge loans he has made on his Chelsea adventure.