Those supporters who managed to tear themselves away from the Christmas leftovers and warm sofa to make their way to Stamford Bridge for the visit of Aston Villa on Boxing Day 2007 were in for a real Boxing Day treat. It may not have given us the three points we wanted, but it did serve up plenty of drama.

Going into the match, the Blues were in third place in the Premier League table and well in the title race – in addition to being on our way to the finals of the UEFA Champions Leaue and the League Cup – taking on a Villa side five spots and eight points below us.

It was not a game many who were there are likely to forget, with eight goals and three red cards shared between the two teams, but for Ballack it was even more memorable than most. It signalled the German’s first Premier League appearance of the season, having been out of action since requiring surgery on an injury picked up in April, during his debut campaign in England.

We meet Aston Villa at the Bridge over Christmas again this afternoon, but before that, Ballack talks us through one of the greatest festive fixtures Chelsea have ever been involved in, in an interview which originally appeared in the official Chelsea matchday programme.

‘This game, how can I forget it?' began Ballack. 'It was my first Premier League game after being out injured for eight months. I had returned in the League Cup just before, when we played Liverpool, but this game was when I played a lot and made a big contribution.’

When Ballack entered the fray, it was unplanned. Frank Lampard had gone off injured after pulling a thigh muscle midway through the first half, meaning the German was called off the bench by manager Avram Grant.

‘When I came on, it wasn’t a good moment for the team. Frank was injured, which was not a good thing at all, despite me personally being able to come into the game. And we were losing. It was such a crazy game and we were behind, 1-0, after Villa had scored early.

‘I remember this so well. I just thought, “Ooof! This game is going to be one of those days!” You have that feeling sometimes.

‘It was so important for me, so to come on and play was great. I had suffered from a horrible injury, with so many set-backs. To be back again at Stamford Bridge, back in the Premier League, it felt good. I just didn’t like it that it was obviously at Frank’s expense with injury himself.’

When Ballack came on against Villa, Chelsea had it all to do to get back into the game after Shaun Maloney had put the visitors ahead. Things would get worse on the stroke of half-time, when Maloney doubled his tally for the afternoon, making it 2-0.

Fortunately, Andriy Shevchenko responded almost instantly with a penalty that had been won by Ballack, resulting in Zat Knight being dismissed. Five minutes after the restart, Shevchenko pulled out a moment of brilliance to fire home from 30 yards, making it 2-2.

‘In games like this, when you’re just back from injury, you are really excited. You want to do everything, chase every ball and make every tackle. You want to score every goal.

‘I won us the penalty that Sheva scored, so I was happy with that. His second goal was marvellous, too. Such a clean hit from outside the box.

‘I was happy to make the impact with the penalty as I had some friends visiting from Germany. They were there to watch me and welcome me back to football. It’s that support that makes things better for you as a player and a person.’

The afternoon got even better for Ballack. The game had gone back and forth once again, as Alex put us ahead for the first time and then Martin Laursen levelled, before an 88th-minute free-kick by the Germany international looked to have won it for us.

‘I loved to take free-kicks. We had a few takers in the Chelsea team back then, but on the edge of the box and at the angle it was, this was perfect for me. In front of the Matthew Harding Stand, this was one I wanted.

‘When I struck it, it felt sweet. I surprised the goalkeeper as I hit it around the wall and onto his side, into the bottom corner. To see it go in, the feeling was just incredible.

‘Scoring goals is incredible and in a game like this, when there has been so much that has happened, you think you’ve won the game for your team. I can tell you, that is a feeling you live for.’

Unfortunately, Ballack hadn’t won the game. There was still time for Gareth Barry to score a penalty in the 90th minute, coming after Ashley Cole had been adjudged to have handled on the line to prevent a Gabriel Agbonlahor goal.

That was the second red card for Chelsea that afternoon, as Ricardo Carvalho had been dismissed 10 minutes earlier. It had been quite the game, to put it mildly.

‘Yes, it was entertaining for the fans, shall we say. But for the players, you don’t want to play in games like this where you don’t win.

‘For me, that Christmas was a good one, though. I got back to my fitness and was back in the team, making a difference. I made a penalty and scored against Aston Villa and, soon after, I scored the winner against Fulham on New Year’s Day.

‘I was getting my dynamic back. I was feeling good in my mind and stable for the first time in a long while. It was important to me and those games helped me to have a good next half of the season.’

Chelsea 4-4 Aston Villa

Wednesday 26 December 2007

Chelsea (4-4-2): Petr Cech; Paulo Ferreira, Alex, Ricardo Carvalho, Ashley Cole; Salomon Kalou, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard (c) (Michael Ballack 26), Joe Cole; Claudio Pizarro (John Mikel Obi 85), Andriy Shevchenko (Shaun Wright-Phillips 82)
Unused subs: Hilario, Tal Ben-Haim
Scorers: Shevchenko pen 45+5, 50, Alex 66, Ballack 88
Booked: Essien 18, Alex 90, Ballack 90
Sent off: Carvalho 80, A Cole 90
Manager: Avram Grant

Aston Villa (4-4-2): Scott Carson; Olof Mellberg, Martin Laursen, Zat Knight, Wilfred Bouma (Marlon Harewood 89); Shaun Maloney (Curtis Davies h-t), Nigel Re-Coker, Gareth Barry (c), Ashley Young; John Carew (Luke Moore 78), Gabriel Agbonlahor
Unused subs: Stuart Taylor, Craig Gardner
Scorers: Maloney 14, 44, Laursen 72, Barry pen 90
Booked: Reo-Coker 53, Harewood 90+1
Sent off: Knight 45+3
Manager: Martin O'Neill

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