Michael Ballack,Germany

Michael Ballack
Country: Germany

Club Team: Chelsea
Position: Midfielder

Age: 33

He played his first EPL match of the season during the match against Aston Villa in which he replaced Lampard when he limped off with a thigh injury at the 26th minute. For many fans who doubted his fitness after a long-term injury, Ballack proved them wrong by winning a penalty and scoring a thunderous free-kick for the Blues. How about that for a player who had been out from action for 8 months and coming back with a goal and an assist for his club in his first match. Ballack scored the free-kick on the 88th minute, which made many people thought it was a last minute win for Chelsea and that Ballack will surely have his name on the headlines the next day. I'm sure Ballack was very very happy and impressed with his own performance right after the goal but then luck turned to Aston Villa as they won a penalty after the lousy referee pointed to the spot, saying that Ashley Cole used his hand to stop the ball from crossing the line at the 90th minute. Well to me, it didn't look like a handball to me and Ballack was surely frustrated and he got himself booked for arguing with the referee's dubious decision. The decision stood and Villa scored the penalty, which made the final score 4-4 and Ballack couldn't be anymore happier as he failed to make his goal a winning goal.

The definition of a box-to-box midfielder, Michael Ballack is the sort of talismanic and charismatic player whom teams are built around. Success is so deeply ingrained in Ballack's DNA that he simply cannot escape it, be it at Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Chelsea or with Germany. At every one of the aforementioned, play became more fluid, attractive and, dare we say it, efficient after the German's arrival. An 11-year veteran of Germany, Ballack has captained the side since 2008 and virtually willed it to the finals of World Cup 2002 and Euro 2008. No team that Ballack plays on will perform poorly. He won't allow it.

Michael Ballack is a monster standing at 189cm and weighing 80kg. He's tough as a rock and produces creativity on the pitch. Besides being a free-kick and penalty specialist, he's one of the players who is deadly on the air, making powerful and precise headers. He slides and intercepts with fast paces and sends through balls and long passes in a blink of an eye. He can execute powerful long shots from as far as 25 yards and roars at the opponents who tried to play dirty. Despite the critics of many people, he has shown them that coming over to Chelsea is not a bad choice after all, as he admitted playing with Chelsea had made him a better player. Man, i love football as much as i