Michael Ballack has defended himself against accusations of
diving to win a penalty in Chelsea's 4-4 draw with Aston Villa. The
first major turning point of a pulsating game came when Chelsea
were awarded a spot-kick for a foul by Zat Znight on Ballack, with
the score at 2-0 to Villa. Knight was sent off, Andrei Shevchenko
slotted home the penalty and Chelsea came back to take a
point.
Martin O'Neill later questioned Phil Dowd's decision to dismiss
Knight and give Chelsea a penalty. The Villa boss said: "It wasn't
a penalty. The Chelsea player went over and there had been no
contact."
However, Ballack believes the correct decision was made and has
insisted the Villa defender knocked him over. "For me there is no
discussion about this," the German told the London Evening
Standard. "I had the ball and two guys, not just one, came and one
pushed me. It was a clear penalty."
