With Chelsea’s achievements in eroding Manchester United’s lead at the top of the table in danger of being lost amidst their rivals’ red mist, it fell to Michael Ballack to rescue them, just as he had done on the pitch. The Germany captain did not disappoint, providing an insight into the confidence that is coursing through Stamford Bridge by claiming that Chelsea are the form team in Europe.

With momentum on Chelsea’s side, Ballack believes that they are well placed to win the Barclays Premier League and Champions League, particularly given the away goal they take into Wednesday’s semi-final, second leg against Liverpool. “We’ve put ourselves in this situation and it’s exactly where we wanted to be,” Ballack said. “It’s going to be close to the end, but when I look around at the others I like this situation. We look fresh, we look better than I think all the other teams in the Champions League now, so we will see what we can do.

“Of course, United still have everything in their hands, so it’s down to them to lose it. But now they are the team under pressure. It looked a few weeks ago as though they were champions, but now it’s tighter. Nobody expected after what has happened that we would be here, but we’re in a good position now and we are in the Champions League as well.”

There is a growing sense that, after stuttering through much of the season, Chelsea are peaking at the right time, much like Ballack. The 30-year-old is feeling the benefit of missing the first half of the season with an ankle injury, with the emphatic manner in which he dispatched that late winning penalty in the 2-1 win over United on Saturday speaking volumes for his self-belief.

Avram Grant had words with Ballack at the training ground last week for failing to practise penalties before the Liverpool match, bringing the response that it was pointless because they matter only when the pressure is on. Ballack’s confidence is such that while Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira were engrossed in the Champions League first knockout round penalty shoot-out between FC Porto and Schalke 04 he left the dressing-room, telling them that there was no point watching it because Germans always succeed from the spot. He was proved right as Schalke prevailed.

“I’m used to handling this sort of situation as I’ve taken a lot of important penalties in my career,” he said. “There is a little bit of history with Germans and penalties, otherwise nobody would speak about it. We have to be good at something. We’re showing we can play as well now. It was our best performance of the season, especially in the first half.

“We played very well and passed the ball well – it wasn’t as if it was just long balls to Didier [Drogba]. Of course it’s good that we can do that and play long to him, that’s one of our big strengths, but we demonstrated that we can move the ball very quickly when we want to as well. I think we’ve shown that we can play football as well. That is a big strength.”

Just as impressive as Ballack’s performance was the professional manner in which he dealt with the melodramatic Drogba, impressing Grant no end by turning his back as the Ivory Coast striker ranted and raved.

The Chelsea first-team coach received another boost yesterday when Frank Lampard trained for the first time since the death of his mother, Pat, although he will not be pressured into playing against Liverpool, with the decision being left to the player.