Good friend of WAGNH Feroze Ali recently partnered with MasterCard on a new commercial with Michael Ballack. The former Chelsea midfielder and part-time captain discusses the Champions League experience, and with the final tomorrow, we thought an athlete's perspective on what it's like playing in the competition would be a good addition to the coverage (also, you're welcome MasterCard).
Ballack played in nearly 100 Champions League matches over the course of his career, but "just" 33 with Chelsea. You can definitely see Feroze's influence here, as the editing is quite Chelsea heavy (I'm sure most on WAGNH will agree that this was a solid decision).
Ballack's biggest performance for Chelsea in the Champions League was likely during the 2006/07 campaign when he volleyed in a late winner against Porto to send Chelsea through to the quarterfinals (he also scored an early header from a Frank Lampard cross very early in the second leg of the quarterfinals the next season to erase the 2-1 deficit it carried from the first leg against Fenerbahce, which set up the eventual 90th minute winner from Lampard to see Chelsea through).
All in all, very well done Feroze and the video is a great opportunity to walk down memory lane a bit with Ballack, who only spent four years with Chelsea and didn't join up until he was almost thirty years old, but made a lasting impression on the club and its fans.