After a hard fought 1–0 victory at Stamford Bridge in the 2012 Champions League semi-finals, Chelsea were stuck in a really bad situation at Barcelona in the second leg when the Blues defender John Terry was sent off in the 37th minute.
The 39-year-old England international was shown a straight red card for thrusting his knee into the back of the former Barcelona striker Alexis Sanchez.
Speaking at BeIN Sport, Terry said it was the most stupid decision of his Chelsea career ever and apologised to fans for getting sent of in Chelsea’s Champions League 3-2 victory against Barcelona.
“I knew I was trouble. It’s funny because I heard before we played them at Stamford Bridge, he got a dead leg. And in the home game he run past me and I sort of blocked him and caught him on his leg, and he was in absolute agony. He was still carrying it in second leg so I thought I’ll just give him a little.” Terry said.
“Stupid really, I don’t know why I done the second one at the Nou Camp because it put the team in a dreadful position. I look back now and I think it must be one of my silliest moments as a player on the pitch and if you could pick one team you do not want to be down to ten men against its Barcelona at the Nou Camp. I thought I could get away with it.” Terry added.
Terry missed Chelsea’s Champions League final against Bayern Munich, as he served a mandatory one-match ban before.
However, the Chelsea fought back with goals from Ramires and Fernando Torres and went on to lift the trophy following their penalty shoot-out triumph over Bayern in the Allianz Arena.
Terry is one of the most successful defenders in the last decade of the English Premier League. He announced his retirement from playing on 7 October 2018.