John Terry has defended Chelsea's surrounding of referee Bjorn Kuipers
Chelsea came in for fierce criticism and accusations of cheating after PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic was harshly sent off at Stamford Bridge, as the French team knocked them out of the Champions League on away goals on a controversial night.
Television pundits Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness slammed Chelsea’s players for surrounding Kuipers and getting Ibrahimovic dismissed, Souness calling their actions “disgraceful” and said that was why the club will never be loved in football.
After Ibrahimovic’s dismissal after just 31 minutes, for a late but not studs up tackle on Oscar, Chelsea had nine players surrounding Kuipers.
But last night Chelsea skipper Terry scornfully dismissed the duo’s words, and insisted that he was only protecting his team.
Terry said: “From them? I don't want to get involved in a row but as a group it’s difficult.
“You have to stick up for your team-mates. The fans want to see that and that’s the same with every side.
“Every team is as bad as each other. It’s part of the game. It’s maybe something they were looking for.
“There was an awful lot going on but I don't think anyone got caught up in it.
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A number of Chelsea players surrounded the referee after Zlatan Ibrahimovic's tackle on Oscar
“Once they're charging the referee, the only thing we can do is respond.
“You can't as a group of players let them surround the referee, 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.
You can't as a group of players let them surround the referee, trying to get our players booked
John Terry
“We'll match it if people want to mix it, that's part of our game as well.
“It was a bit of both sides. It’s not nice but it’s a part of European football and you can get booked for something silly.”
Terry was adamant that now having gone out of Europe, after leading twice in the last 16 game, Chelsea must now put their disappointment behind them and concentrate on the league title.
They face Southampton at Stamford Bridge on Sunday standing five points clear at the top of the Premier League with a game in hand on rivals Manchester City – and 11 games left.
He said: “It was disappointing with them going down to 10 men so early. But it's gone, we have to pick ourselves up and go again at the weekend. We've got another big game against a very good Southampton side.
“Now it's the Premier league. We've got the Capital One Cup out of the way, that's in the pocket and the Premier Leagues is all we've got not so it's a massive one to go for.
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“We're a few points clear and we need to keep that gap and maintain it. We can only do that by responding and doing that the right way and coming back here and picking up three points.'
“I think we will analyse what went wrong – the manager certainly will and us as individuals need to as well and we'll regroup today.
“The manager will sit down with the squad and go through stuff, but tonight you ponder on it and after that it's got to be fogotten.
“Games come thick and fast and you can't stay down because Southampton will come here on the front foot, playing well and if we're not at it we'll drop points and slip away in the League.'
“We are hungrier than ever for the league now. The manager said then if we can win the Capital One Cup and the Premier League, it will be 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.
“We've got four or five days until Sundays game. As a group of players, there's enough experience in the squad to rally round and get everyone going again.”
