Michael Ballack has welcomed the appointment of Luiz Felipe Scolari as Chelsea manager despite his memories of the 2002 World Cup final.Scolari was in charge of Brazil when they defeated Germany in Japan, a game which Ballack sat out through suspension.

Chelsea star Ballack admits it was a painful experience but insists there can be no hard feelings towards Scolari as the experienced tactician prepares to take the reins at Stamford Bridge after Euro 2008.

The Germany midfielder has nothing but respect for Scolari and feels he should be able to lead the Blues to glory.

"Even though I didn't play, the World Cup final was one of the worst times of my career," Ballack recalled.

"But, of course, I forgive Scolari now he is my Chelsea manager.

"I don't know him yet apart from the odd 'hello', but he has done very well and he has all the credentials.

"He has won a lot of titles, was in the last European Championship final with Portugal and won the World Cup with Brazil, so he is very successful.

"He is definitely a man to be respected by all the players."

Germany appear likely to face Scolari's Portugal in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 after their surprise defeat to Croatia left them second in Group B.

However, Ballack is not looking too far ahead and is focusing solely on Germany's final group game against spirited co-hosts Austria.

Ballack accepts that Germany were totally outplayed by Croatia and has called on his team-mates to improve considerably.

He explained: "Now we have to think about the Austria game, which is difficult enough, and then we can think about maybe playing Portugal.

"The Austria game will be different to Croatia, but it will still be tricky.

"We were very disappointed with our performance (against Croatia) because we were not really in the game from the beginning.

"They were a little bit quicker in their minds and very compact in midfield, which meant we could not open the game and create chances."

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