Germany manager Oliver Bierhoff has accused Chelsea of denying Michael Ballack permission to participate in an adidas promotional campaign.

Chelsea denied the suggestion tonight but by then Bierhoff had already gone public in his condemnation of the London club.

‘That is not how you treat a Germany player and in particular our captain,’ said Bierhoff.

‘He is regarded highly throughout Europe and I am astonished by the way Chelsea have acted.’

Bierhoff was puzzled by Chelsea’s stance given the club also have a sponsorship deal with adidas.

‘It is absolutely not right that they act like this with us and adidas, who are also their partners, but it seems they have different methods at their club,’ added Bierhoff.

‘We will certainly be going back to them to follow this up.

‘Having direct contact and sharing our views is important and we will certainly be giving them our opinion.’

The Germany captain is currently recovering from ankle surgery, an injury which prompted Chelsea to leave him off their 23-man squad list for the group stage of the Champions League.

Chelsea insist they took the decision because they could not guarantee Ballack would be fit for the majority of their six group …

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Miroslav Klose celebrated his 70th cap and debut as captain in the starting line-up with two goals as Germany took a step closer to Euro 2008 qualification with a convincing 2-0 win over Wales.

Klose needed just five minutes in Cardiff to celebrate his milestone when Germany’s attack sliced through the Welsh defence and Kevin Kuranyi slid a pass to his skipper for the 28-year-old to put his side ahead. And when Wales defender Gareth Bale was robbed by midfielder Roberto Hilbert just before the hour mark, his cross was met by Klose’s bullet header as the Bayern Munich striker scored his 35th international goal.

With midfielders Michael Ballack and Torsten Frings out with injury, as well as Bernd Schneider serving a one-match suspension, the role of chief playmaker went to Bastian Schweinsteiger. The Bayern Munich player earned his man-of-the-match award and out-shone his captain with a superb performance to boss the midfield as Germany underlined their status as run-away Group D leaders.

An inexperienced Wales side had little to offer with Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Freddy Eastwood, who had been full of talk of embarrassing German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, being given precious little space by the compact German defence.

Wigan …

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Germany defender Philipp Lahm will miss Saturday’s Euro 2008 qualifier against Wales in Cardiff after suffering a knee injury in training on Thursday.

The German Football Association (DFB) said the Bayern Munich player was heading straight back home after straining ligaments in his left knee.

Lahm had been due to play either at right back or in midfield against Wales on Saturday.

His absence means a further headache for coach Joachim Loew, who is already without senior midfielders Michael Ballack, Torsten Frings, Bernd Schneider and Tim Borowski.

Lahm will also miss Germany’s friendly international against Romania in Cologne on Wednesday, the DFB said in a statement.

Germany lead qualifying Group D with 19 points from seven matches, five points ahead of the Czech Republic in second place. Wales are down in fifth place with seven points from six games.…

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Michael Ballack’s Chelsea future is set to come under further scrutiny after Germany head coach Joachim Low claimed the player was mystified by the club’s decision to omit him from their Champions League squad.

Ballack was left out of Chelsea’s squad for the group stages after the club insisted that an ankle injury would prevent him from being fit.

Ballack has not played since undergoing ankle surgery and the Chelsea medical department maintained that the Germany captain would not be back in time to play any part in the group qualifiers.

Privately, Chelsea insist the midfielder is going nowhere but there are signs of growing impatience on Ballack’s behalf after Low revealed the player was at a loss to explain the club’s decision.

Chelsea had to name their Champions League squad for their Group B games last Friday but Ballack is hopeful of making a return at the beginning of November.

Now Low has inflamed the situation further by claiming the midfielder cannot fathom Chelsea’s reasoning.

Low, preparing Germany for their Group D, Euro 2008 qualifier against Wales, said: ‘I discussed it with Michael and he could not fully explain Chelsea’s decision to me.

‘Chelsea’s doctors estimate he will not …

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