John Terry, third from right, is part of a group of Chelsea players remonstrating with the referee, Bjorn Kuipers, middle, just before he showed a red card to PSG's Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Photograph
Thursday 12 March 2015 12.00 GMT Last modified on Thursday 12 March 2015
John Terry has admitted Chelsea’s willingness to surround referees “does not look good at all” but he and his team-mates will continue to support each other in that way if they feel opponents, such as Paris Saint-Germain, are attempting to exert their own influence on the officials.
Nine of the London club’s outfield players had crowded around the Dutch referee, Bjorn Kuipers, following Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s challenge on Oscar just after the half-hour mark in the second leg of the teams’ Champions League knockout tie on Wednesday with the Brazilian prone on the turf. That reaction was branded “disgraceful” at the time by the former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher in his capacity as a pundit for Sky.
Ibrahimovic suggested the Chelsea players had reacted “like babies” yet Terry argued that PSG, who prevailed on away goals after extra time despite having
their Sweden forward dismissed for that tackle, had been just as guilty of seeking to influence the officials. “Once they’re charging the ref, the only thing we can do is respond,” said the Chelsea captain.
“You can’t, as a group of players, let them surround the ref, trying to get our players booked.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Chelsea behaved ‘like babies’ over red card
“For me, if I have to run 20, 30 yards, it doesn’t look great, but when you’re standing back and seeing five or six of their players surrounding the ref … for me, I think I support my team-mates. And once I go, four or five go with me. It doesn’t look good at all, but that’s part of the game. We’ll match it if people want to mix it, that’s part of our game as well.”
Carragher had been scathing in his criticism, claiming the gamesmanship in evidence at Stamford Bridge – PSG engaged in their own, with David Luiz booked for suggesting he had been head-butted by Diego Costa when contact seemed minimal – was indicative of a José Mourinho side. “The reaction from the Chelsea players is disgraceful,” he said. “It comes from Mourinho’s teams: it’s not a one-off. I always think with Mourinho’s teams that they will always be respected but never loved because of situations like this. They take winning to a level that no other team or manager does. Mourinho’s words have worked.”
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His fellow Sky pundit Graeme Souness added: “That is not the British way of doing things. Someone brushes you, you want to go down and get them in trouble? Thank goodness the PSG team stood up to that. They are a proper team.”
When those words were put to Terry, his response was blunt. “From them? Yeah. I don’t want to get involved in a row but, as a group, it’s difficult. It’s there and you have to stick up for your team-mates. Every other side is as bad as each other. It’s part of the game.”
Elimination meant Chelsea were denied a seventh quarter-final appearance in nine years, but the team still top the Premier League by five points and boast a game in hand over second-placed Manchester City. They host Southampton on Sunday. Mourinho addressed his squad at Cobham on Thursday afternoon having analysed their shortcomings against PSG, and both manager and captain are expecting a rapid response.
“We have to pick ourselves up and go again,” added Terry. “Now it’s all about the Premier League. We’ve won the Capital One Cup. That’s in the pocket. The Premier League is all we have got to go for now, and it’s a massive one for us.
“We need to respond to the PSG game in the right way and regroup. We’re even hungrier now. The manager said then if we can win the Capital One Cup and the Premier League, it will have been a very successful year. It’s in our hands and we have to respond. As a group of players, there’s enough experience in the squad to rally round and get everyone going again.”
John Terry has admitted Chelsea’s willingness to surround referees “does not look good at all” but he and his team-mates will continue to support each other in that way if they feel opponents, such as Paris Saint-Germain, are attempting to exert their own influence on the officials.
Nine of the London club’s outfield players had crowded around the Dutch referee, Bjorn Kuipers, following Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s challenge on Oscar just after the half-hour mark in the second leg of the teams’ Champions League knockout tie on Wednesday with the Brazilian prone on the turf. That reaction was branded “disgraceful” at the time by the former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher in his capacity as a pundit for Sky.
Ibrahimovic suggested the Chelsea players had reacted “like babies” yet Terry argued that PSG, who prevailed on away goals after extra time despite having their Sweden forward dismissed for that tackle, had been just as guilty of seeking to influence the officials. “Once they’re charging the ref, the only thing we can do is respond,” said the Chelsea captain.
“You can’t, as a group of players, let them surround the ref, trying to get our players booked.
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