Messi, Neymar & Suarez are divas, says Ballack

The former Germany skipper is in awe of the Barcelona front three's attacking ability but feels they could do more defensively for their team

Former Germany captain Michael Ballack has revealed his admiration for Barcelona forwards Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, but feels their unwillingness to defend could be the undoing of their side in the Champions League final.

The South American attackers have fired the Catalans to the Liga title and the Copa del Rey and could complete the treble on Saturday when they face Juventus in Berlin.
Ballack, however, feels that all three can be "divas" and need to do more at the back for the sake of helping the team.
"Of course they have weaknesses. Most obviously in terms of their defence: remember Bayern Munich scored three goals in the semi-final second leg, so they’re clearly vulnerable," he told The Guardian .
"Their biggest strength can also become a weakness. Those three forwards are all superstars. They are a little bit like divas sometimes when you see them: they don’t like to defend.
"So it will be interesting to see how Juventus can create unhappiness in their game. These kind of players like to have the ball, they want to play, they want to enjoy movements, to pass the ball around.
"If Juve make sure that can’t happen, as the game goes on they’ll become more and more frustrated and they can lose their discipline. That’s the key. That’s the time where Juventus must take over because an Italian team never loses discipline. Their players live for and thrive off this discipline.
"It’s an outstanding trio. I’ve never seen three players up front in the same team like that. Bayern Munich have Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and Robert Lewandowski, who are amazing when they’re in good shape.
"Real Madrid have Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema, even if Cristiano tends to dominate. But Barcelona’s are all absolute superstars. It says a lot that all three’s national teams rely on them as well: Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.
"That tells you everything about their quality."
Ballack also predicted that Juventus will employ a restrictive gameplan to come away with a result in Berlin on Saturday.
 "I’m sure they won’t give them space. Juve will not play an open game but will know that there will be periods in the match, and opportunities, where they can attack themselves and play high up the pitch.
"They might initially think their best opportunities will come from set-pieces, particularly as I don’t see them being particularly strong on the counter-attack. But they can hurt Barcelona, even if their first task is to shut them out."