Michael Ballack wasn’t at Chelsea for an especially long time, but he made himself a real fan favourite with his performances.
The former midfielder is still asked often about how he thinks the Blues are getting on, and when they’re playing against the team he joined them from, that becomes an inevitability.
So with Chelsea playing Bayern Munich in the next round of the Champions League, it was always likely Ballack was going to get questioned. His response is honest, and shows the imbalance in the tie.
“[Chelsea’s] manager is new and inexperienced in his job, and that is a big advantage for Bayern,” The Sun quote him as saying.
“The performance levels of Bayern’s players are another plus for them. They are more stable than they were last autumn.
“Chelsea have a young team, which has the potential to explode. They have mostly young players, a bit like Borussia Dortmund,” he went on.
The German side are unquestionably favourites, for the very reasons Ballack mentions. But they’re also not perfect, and it’s important to remember they fired their manager as recently as this winter.
Of course they have the upper hand, but it’s going to be tighter than some think.
