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CHELSEA FC: LÖW CREDITS BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE

/noticias.info/ Joachim Löw, Germany's coach, believes Michael Ballack's infallible performances can be directly attributed to his experiences playing for Chelsea in the Barclays Premier League.

Ballack, the last remaining player from the Champions League Final in the competition, is one of the players who has covered the most ground during Euro 2008 and his displays have been vital in helping Germany reach tonight's semi-final.

'Michael Ballack in the past few matches has really run a great deal and in the last two years he has played in the Premier League in the UK and he's had excellent progress physically - we noticed that when he joined us with the national squad in Germany,' said Löw.

'He was injured for half a year but he worked hard in that period of time, so physically speaking he developed nicely playing in the Premier League because they play fast-paced football at a high-intensity.

'So at the moment he is in very good physical shape and he is capable of doing long runs in a match and at high speed.

'This is a development that we have seen in the past few months.'

Tonight Ballack may face his toughest test yet against a Turkish side that have proved themselves as comeback kings in the competition so far.

Despite losing their opening match 2-0 to Portugal, Turkey have since won three successive games to reach their first semi-final in the European competition.

It is the manner of those wins that has impressed the European contingent, as Fatih Terim's side have fought back from behind in all three matches to clinch last-gasp glory.

'They have very strong runners and very technical players, and they have come up with great performances and have been highly motivated in the tournament,' Löw explained.

'They have always been excellent players and it has always been fun for them to play, but when they've been down they tended to be demoralised, but they have learnt never to give up and in particular to keep on running.

'Maybe this was not the same 10 years ago,' added Löw. notas_de_prensa_archivo