Micheal Ballack on his 38th birthday

Micheal Ballack, the German footballer has every reason to celebrate his 38th birthday with pride as he is the true achiever.

He has been a part of a number of teams starting from Chemnitzer FC (1995-1997), FC Kaiserslautern (1997-1998), Bayer Leverkusen (1999-2002), Bayern Munich (2002-2006), Chelsea (2006-2010), and returned back to Bayer Leverkusen (2010-2012). He has been involved in international games during the period from 1999-2010.


He was considered as a boy with extraordinary talent from a very young age. He is equally competent in using both his right and left foot. He earned the title "Little Kaiser".

He was a midfielder who was known for his perfect pass and shots. He earned ample of titles to the teams that he played for and won many honours, including the German player of the year award on three occasions- 2002, 2003, 2005.

He always wore number 13 jersey in all the teams that he played for, even in his national team. I'll let the images do the talking.

Talking about his personal life, he was married to his longtime girlfriend Simone Lambe from
 2008 to 2012. they have three children- Louis (2001), Emilio (2002) and Jordi (2005).
They divorced in 2012.

He announced his retirement in 2012, holding a record of top goal scorer of German national team with 42 international goals.

He now works for ESPN as Soccer Analyst.

 

 

Ballack has seen his fair share of controversies:

1. When Michael Ballack's agent  Michael Becker allegedly referred to certain players in the German national team as 'bunch of gays'.
2. The verbal wrangling over passing the captaincy to Philip Lahm in 2010 world cup games.
3. The slap gate between Ballack and Kevin Prince Boateng followed by a tackle by Boating which left Ballack injured. See the tackle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CrGFqHL5T4

Informally speaking the thought just crossed my mind, doesn't Michael Ballack look a lot like Matt Demon?

 

I'll leave you be the judge of it!

"It is one of those goals that is like a stamp. He put in a great effort to play a good game. He was exactly like the team - didn't play well in the first half, but played very well in the second half."

-Jose Mourinho,Chelsea coach

(after Michael Ballack goal lead to a 2-1 win over Porto in UEFA Champions league)