No Ballack against the Ivory Coast.

Michael Ballack will miss Germany's clash with Ivory Coast on Wednesday due to a slight infection in his knee. The German captain will miss the friendly following his failure to recover from the knee injury explained his nation's coach Joachim Loew today (Monday).

'We can definitely say that Michael Ballack will not play on Wednesday,' said Loew.

'He has an infection in the back of the knee and there has been a reaction.

'After consultation with the doctors I have decided that he will not play. He needs maybe two or three days of rest.'

As the 33-year-old midfielder has not trained since last week according to Loew, he will not be on the bench for the game, although he will continue to stay with the squad.

'It makes no sense to take risks, also in terms of Chelsea as they have quite a few games leading up to Christmas and afterwards,' added Loew.