JOHN TERRY will have felt the boom break from above, the foundations of this stadium rocking as Catalonia rose in celebration, to mark Andres Iniesta’s second for the hosts and it can only have prompted his mood to plummet even further.
Lost in his thoughts back in the dressing room, his misery must have felt complete. The script he had envisaged had him cast as captain courageous leading his team against all the odds to Munich, not helpless, culpable and cast prematurely from the fray. This triumph, for once, was sealed in his absence.
Chelsea’s mission improbable had felt transformed into mission impossible in that frantic nine-minute period before the interval, a breathless stretch of what was always a compelling occasion during which the visitors’ linchpin completely lost his head. Play had been meandering away towards the flank when Terry, mystifyingly and petulantly, kneed Alexis Sanchez in the back.
The reaction was theatrical, but the offence was clear enough. Whether there had been provocation in the build-up felt moot. This was an 85th Champions league appearance for the centre-half, yet his reaction smacked only of naivety.
The referee, Cuneyt Cakir, did not appear to have spotted the incident, coming as it had well off the ball, but his assistant flagged at once. For their part, the visitors’ management team were perplexed and forced to ask one of the touchline broadcasters what had prompted the dismissal while the 31-year-old was still trudging back towards the tunnel to a deafening chorus of whistles from above. Terry must have known he had foolishly left his side prone and exposed.
He went on to say afterwards that he was “distraught” and “hadn’t meant to do it” though that felt a weak explanation. The chance to make amends for that infamous penalty miss in Moscow back in 2008 is lost once again. The final in Munich will be played without him.
The immediate assessments were predictably scathing. Graeme Souness claimed the centre-half owed “his team-mates, every one of his supporters an apology”. Ex England full-back Danny Mills described it as “old fashioned centre-half play”.
Yet the reality is, with officials dotted around the touchline now to aid the referee on the pitch, it was never likely to be unnoticed.
Terry has had his problems off the pitch but he has tended to inspire his team-mates on the pitch. This felt out of character. “At this level of football, I don’t think I have ever seen anything so stupid in my life,” said the former England international Jamie Redknapp.
“He’s the captain, they’ve already lost Gary Cahill ... he should be there leading by example. How on earth did he think he was going to get away with that?” It was all the more unfathomable when put into the context of the evening.
With Cahill off due to a damaged hamstring in the opening exchanges and goals from Busquets and Iniesta leaving Chelsea’s ten men’s hopes hanging by a thread Terry will still have been wallowing in his misery when Ramires lobbed his team improbably back into the tie.
Whether he felt able to share his team-mates’ celebration at the end is unclear, with the second half resilience and recovery beyond comprehension. In the days ahead, this team will wonder what bodies will remain available for the showpiece to come. Aside from Cahill’s hamstring complaint, Terry will join Ramires, Ivanovic and Raul Meireles in missing the final through suspension. They deserved better. For Terry, the folly of his knee-jerk actions will be all too clear in the weeks ahead as team-mates gear up for a Champions League final that he will now be forced to watch from the sidelines.
* Guardian Service
