In the summer of 2002, all doors were open to Michael Ballack, and even Real Madrid came knocking. But he decided otherwise.Former Germany captain Michael Ballack has revealed that, in the summer of 2002, he could have joined Real Madrid instead of FC Bayern Munich.As he explained on Thursday evening on Sky’s “Triple – der Hagedorn-Fussballtalk”, Ballack had also received an offer from Real Madrid at the time. The then 25-year-old had just enjoyed an outstanding season with Bayer Leverkusen; with the Werkself, he narrowly missed out on the German league title and reached the Champions League final. That final was unfortunately lost 1–2 to Real Madrid. Ballack also led the German national team to the final of the 2002 World Cup, which he missed due to a yellow card suspension. Without the midfielder, Germany lost 0-2 to Brazil, featuring superstars Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo.“For a variety of reasons,” Ballack explained, he ultimately chose Bayern. “It was largely Uli Hoeneß who convinced me back then.” The current honorary president and then sporting director of FCB was determined to have the German international in Munich. “I was still relatively young and, of course, easily influenced,” said Ballack, for whom Bayern paid a transfer fee of six million euros to Leverkusen.Apart from Hoeneß’s persuasion, another important reason was that Ballack already had the 2006 World Cup on home soil in mind. In the run-up to the tournament, he wanted nothing more than to play for Germany’s biggest club; the decision was ultimately made in favour of Bayern and not against Real.Ballack stayed in Munich for four years, remaining there until the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where he led the German national team to third place as captain. He won the German league title three times with Bayern Munich and also secured three DFB Cup titles. In 157 appearances for Bayern, he scored 62 goals.In 2006, upon the expiry of his contract, he deliberately “didn’t go back to Uli Hoeneß’s office – because I knew he had the ability to change my mind again”, said the 49-year-old. Ballack had at the time “made the decision to do something different again” and moved to Chelsea FC on a free transfer.Did he ever regret not accepting Real Madrid’s offer? “It was clear to me that this chance might never come again,” recalled Ballack, before revealing that in 2004 he also had the opportunity to move to Real’s arch-rivals FC Barcelona. “We had issues with Bayern and were very close – but that didn’t work out either,” said the 98-time international.At the time, Bayern had just come off a disappointing and trophy-less 2003/04 season, in which Ballack and his teammates finished as runners-up behind Werder Bremen. Furthermore, they were knocked out of the DFB-Pokal in the quarter-finals by then-second-tier side Alemannia Aachen, whilst their Champions League campaign came to an end in the round of 16 against Real.In addition to his role as a TV pundit for DAZN, Ballack is now also an advisor to Bayern’s prodigy Lennart Karl. The 18-year-old, who is known to aspire to play for Real Madrid one day, was named in the German senior national team squad for the first time on Thursday by national coach Julian Nagelsmann."It’s not a given that you’ll be selected at such a young age," said Ballack of the great honour bestowed upon his protégé. "He’s had a meteoric rise from the U17s, skipping the U19s because he adapted quickly in training, Bayern recognised his quality, and he’s backed that up with goals in the Bundesliga and Champions League."Karl now faces "the competition, and he has to. No matter how young you are, you need quality, and he has it; otherwise, he wouldn’t be there." The attacking gem could make his international debut on 27 March when the DFB team face Switzerland in Basel. Three days later, there is another friendly against Ghana in Stuttgart.With his call-up for the March internationals, Karl’s chances of being selected for the World Cup this summer have also increased.Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reportingPeriodClubMatches1995–1997Chemnitzer FC51 (10 goals)1997–19991. FC Kaiserslautern57 (4 goals)1999–2002 / 2010–2012Bayer Leverkusen155 (42 goals)2002–2006FC Bayern Munich157 (62 goals)2006–2010Chelsea FC167 (26 goals)