Cristiano Ronaldo would do well to look to Ballack in terms of being a role model for the remainder of his career. As friends of mine will note, I have many times said that Ronaldo is a player who goes missing on the big occasions when his team need him most. It's all well and good terrorizing Austria in a tournament opener or routing Derby County at home however he has yet to shine against a fellow top class outfit. It looks a lot like he has begun to believe his own hype in his cat and mouse games with Real and now he has taken his eye off the ball and must face the realities of an irate manager known for giving short shrift to players who think they are bigger than the club.

Ballack on the other hand has given monumental service to the three clubs he has spent the majority of his career at. He nigh-on single handedly fired an unfancied Leverkusen to the Champions league final sacrificing his own participation to get them there. He made the same sacrifice later in scoring the only goal of the semi-final to get Germany to the World Cup final in 2002 and in the home tournament four years later guided them towards another semi-final. It was no surprise that Germany were so heavily backed pre-tournament considering they had this man in their team.