Nine years down the lane, Ghana international Kevin-Prince Boateng has shed new light on his troubles after his tackle on Michael Ballack during an English FA Cup fixture between his former club Portsmouth and Chelsea.
Boateng's tackle ruled Die Mannschaft's captain out of the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa.
A month before the global showpiece and with German-born Boateng having just switched international allegiance to the country of his father, he came under intense criticism from the German public and media for an allegedly 'deliberate and malicious challenge'.