ionigeria.com Nigerian Newspaper
Emilio Ballack, the teenage son of former Germany and Chelsea footballer Michael Ballack, has died after being crushed by a quad-bike near the family’s holiday home in Portugal.
The 18-year-old was involved in the accident around 2 am Thursday at the family’s Villas do Mar estate, near the town of Troia which is just south of the capital, Lisbon.
Police said the teenager had been riding on an uneven piece of land when the bike rolled backward and fell on top of him. Firefighters had to pull him free of the wreck before medics tried to revive him, but their efforts proved in vain and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The teenager’s body has been taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in the city of Santiago de Cacem for a post-mortem. Ballack has yet to make any official comment.
Emilio was the middle of Ballack’s three sons – born in 2002 to then-girlfriend Simone Lambe, who Ballack would marry in 2008 but divorced in 2012. Eldest son Louis was born in 2001, and youngest Jordi was born in 2005.
It was Emilio’s grandmother who raised the alarm shortly after 2am, according to Portuguese site CM. It is not clear how she learned of the wreck or who else was at the property at the time.
Emilio recently posted pictures to his Instagram page of the nearby village of Comporta, saying that he was on holiday in the country with his family.
His elder brother Louis had also uploaded photos from the trip to his Instagram, including one that showed him sitting on a quadbike.
Tagging friend Akshat Nagar in the post, he wrote: ‘Quads were flipped, ferries were missed, new taste buds were explored, injuries were common. Worth it!’
Emilio had spent time at Sublime Beach Club in Alentejo just a few days ago – a trendy hangout area near the scene of Thursday morning’s crash.
Ballack is widely regarded as one of the best German players of all time and is a Premier League and FA Cup winner with Chelsea.
Chelsea tweeted on Thursday afternoon: ‘Everybody associated with Chelsea Football Club is shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Emilio Ballack at the terribly young age of 18.
‘All our thoughts are with his father Michael and his family at this sad time.’
Ballack joined the Blues in 2006 after making his name at Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich before spending four years at Stamford Bridge.
Ballack made 98 appearances for Germany, scoring 42 goals in the process.
After joining Chelsea for £18million in 2006, Ballack went on to make 167 appearances for the club, scoring 25 goals and registering 24 assists. It was the longest he had spent at a club.
Emilio, 18, pictured in his last Instagram post at the family’s holiday home just six days before Thursday’s accident in Portugal
During an interview with the Independent in 2009, Ballack revealed how he saw similarities with his own schooling in what was then East Germany.
He said: ‘You had to stand up in school and say some things and stand still, and wear some uniform.
‘Now I come to England and again my kids are in uniform, in a different way but they have to wear a uniform. In West Germany, you go to school everybody wears their own stuff.’
Ballack picked Portugal to rest and recover after having a tumour removed from near his spinal cord last year.
The former Chelsea and Germany midfielder had a growth discovered on his body during an MRI examination by a doctor, according to Bild.
The early detection proved fortunate for the 44-year-old and the tumour was removed before lab examinations cleared Ballack of any fears the growth was cancerous.
