Ballack slams Mikel: You have to be a man in the wall!

The former Chelsea midfielder criticised the Nigerian after he deflected the ball past Thibaut Courtois having turned his back on Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s strike from a free-kick

Michael Ballack has criticised John Obi Mikel after the Chelsea midfielder inadvertently deflected Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s free-kick into his own net.

The Germany legend told BT Sport: “You have to take responsibility for your team. It’s a big chance for the opposing team, a free-kick in that position.

“You have to stay like a man in the wall and don’t turn away because you don’t know what’s going on. If he passes, the game has to carry on. You can’t turn away.

”Rio Ferdinand added: “He’ll look back on this and he’ll be embarrassed at the way he’s turned his back. Most players have done this at some point in their career.

“When you get punished like that and it gets highlighted, there’s no place to hide. He’s just fortunate he went up the other end and scored. You’ve got to stay strong and really want to take the ball in the face.”