Chelsea in Euro - Knockout Stages

With German captain Micheal Ballack failing to lift the trophy in the finals at Vienna, now we can without doubt that it was a bad Euro championship for our Chelsea players. After the Portuguese exit in the quarterfinals, Ballack was the only Chelsea player alive in the tournament.

Another Title eludes Ze German
Second place yet again, just more than a month after the Champions League defeat in Moscow. Add that to a loss to Tottenham in the less prestigious League Cup final at Wembley Stadium, and that makes four runner-up prizes in four months for Ballack. Taking into the fact that Ballack missed the 2002 World Cup final against Brazil and lost the 2002 Champions League final when his club Bayer Leverkusen fell to Real Madrid, one will really feel sorry for the German captain.

It was Ballack who called a team meeting after the defeat against Croatia in the group stages and asked his teammates to lift their game. He certainly lifted his game in the next match to take Germany into the knockout stages. He scored a vital third goal in the quarterfinals to beat Portugal 3-2. His leadership qualities and his ability in the air were once again to the fore He beat Chelsea teammate Ferreira in the air, with a little bit of help from his hands to push the defender and scored Germany's third goal. The game against Turkey was also good for Ballack.

Ballack's calf injury flared two days ago, heightening the drama on the day of the final. Ballack started the match showing no signs that his calf was ailing. He started the match well, once edging past Carlos Puyol to deliver a cross.He later suffered from a head injury after colliding with Senna and was treated to stop the flow of blood.With Spain chasing a second goal, however, Ballack was laboring in midfield and struggling to get back to help his overworked defenders. He nearly equalized in the 59th minute and so, instead of lifting the trophy he now has to come in terms with another defeat in a major final.


Exit of 'os Magricos'
The Portuguese, considered one of the tournament favorites, went out the quarterfinals. They had the largest Blue contingent with three players plus coach Scolari. Scolari was outsmarted by Joachin Leow in the quarters and Portugal had no answers. When some team score 2 goals ans still loses the match, one of the reasons must surely be bad defending. The Portuguese backline has 3 Chelsea players and all three had a bad game.

Carvalho was a shadow of himself in some of the matches in Euro and this was one such match. He was the one who played Klose onside when he scored from a header. The Germans also had height advantage over the Portuguese. Ferreira was the culprit when he failed to judge the run of Schweinsteiger, who overtook him and scored. Later his Chelsea teammate Ballack outsmarted him with a header. Scolari was not impressed with the push that Ballack made to take Ferreira out of the way. Bosingwa too didn't show any signs of why he is a 15million worth fullback. Altogether a Euro to forget for the Blue players.

Related Posts -
Chelsea in Euro - Round 2&3 - Group Stage
Chelsea in Euro - Round 1 - Group Stage