Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack says he can't believe claims that he influenced the sacking of Luiz Felipe Scolari last week. The Germany midfield player admitted to holding a meeting with Roman Abramovich, also attended by Petr Cech and Didier Drogba, ten days ago, but insisted that the discussions played no part in the Russian's decision to sack Scolari.

"I couldn't believe this," Ballack said. "I was surprised when I heard about it in Germany as I always had a lot of good words about Scolari. This is not true. Meetings are normal in a club. If people speak with each other, even if you don't have the success you want, it has happened before. It's not just this week. It happened with other coaches.

"It's normal Abramovich comes in the dressing-room and speaks with players. It's not easy, not nice to sack somebody. This was in the papers, but is definitely not true.

"There is no backing or basis for this. I had a good relationship with every coach. I never said this. It's speculation which appears in newspapers. I was disappointed as I couldn't react because I was away. In recent months I've spoken good things about the coach, but if you don't get the results, a lot of people speak."