John Terry has admitted Chelsea's willingness to surround and pressurise 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 round 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, with Graeme Souness just as unimpressed at his side.
‘Like babies’
Ibrahimovic suggested the Chelsea players had reacted “like babies” yet Terry argued that PSG, who prevailed on away goals after extra-time despite seeing their Sweden forward dismissed for that tackle, had been just as guilty of seeking to influence the officials, with that tactic apparently now an accepted part of the game.
“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.
“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.
Proper team
“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.”
“That is not the British way of doing things,” added Souness. “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. The fans want to see that and that’s the same with every side.
“Every other side is as bad as each other. It’s part of the game. It’s maybe an excuse they’re looking for tonight but certainly not from our point.”
Elimination represented a considerable blow to Chelsea, who were denied a seventh quarter-final appearance in nine years. But they still top the Premier League by five points and boast a game in hand over the champions, second-placed Manchester City.
Rapid response
They host Southampton on Sunday and, while Mourinho intends to address his squad at Cobham this afternoon having analysed their shortcomings against PSG, both manager and captain are expecting a rapid response to the setback this weekend.
“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. The manager will sit the squad down and go through stuff, but it’s got to be forgotten. Southampton will come here playing on the front foot and, if we’re not at it, we’ll drop points and slip away in the Premier League.
“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. We’re still a few points clear and there is an awful lot to do but 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.”
