Munich - Germany captain Michael Ballack has defended his recent criticism on coach Joachim Loew, naming it a wakeup call.

"Sometimes you have to go public deliberately in order to shake
things up. There were a few irritations during and after the European
championships," Ballack told German pay-TV network Premiere ahead of
the European Champions League match of his club Chelsea at Girondins
Bordeaux on Wednesday.

Ballack said "you can't discuss everything internally," insisted he
"issued his opinion in decent way" and said "I didn't want to attack
anyone."

London - Chelsea's Michael Ballack believes the Premier League title race will come down to a battle between his side and defending champions Manchester United, according to reports on Monday.

Liverpool and Chelsea are joint top of the table, but the Germany midfielder suggested they are a better side in European competition.

"It's always the big four that everyone speaks about but I think it's still about Chelsea and Man U, " Ballack was quoted as saying in The Sun.

"Arsenal are already behind which makes it very difficult for them.

Hamburg - Germany captain Michael Ballack and coach Joachim Loew have met to resolve a row amid media speculation on Friday on its outcome.

The German football federation (DFB) announced statements on the meeting, which took place on Thursday at the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt, for later Friday.

Chelsea's Ballack, 32, had criticised Loew last week in a newspaper interview, mainly for benching fellow-midfielder Torsten Frings at two World Cup qualifiers. Ballack said that Loew did not show enough respect for long-time Germany players.