German legend throws stones from his glass house

If you haven’t heard, the big news in Deutschland at the moment concerns Germany captain Michael Ballack’s ongoing feud with Joachim Loew. It started when Ballack accused the manager of being critical of teammate Torsten Frings in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, and for his insolence, the Matt Damon look-alike was threatened with a swift removal from the national side.

Despite insisting that he was merely jumping to the defence of a player like any good captian would, the Chelsea star publicly issued a full apology to Loew, in the hope that he would keep his place in the national team (read it in English here).

Never one to keep his nose out of controversy, former Germany captain Lothar Matthäus has waded in on the argument, claiming Ballack’s press release apology means nothing:

“A press release is not an apology. I think Ballack didn’t even write it, his advisors did. He knows very well what would happen if he doesn’t play in the national team. All the huge advertising contracts would disappear.”

It’s fair to say that Ballack shouldn’t have used the media to highlight the problems of the national team, but Matthäus - who publicly rubbished Germany’s Euro 2008 hopes and who endlessly attacked Juergen Klinsmann - is the last person who should be getting on his back.