Chelsea hero John Terry had to be ‘pulled back’ in dressing room dispute

Liverpool icon Rafa Benitez had to be protected from John Terry after taking over as manager at Chelsea. The two nearly came to blows in the Wembley dressing room after the Blues had been defeated by Manchester City in the 2013 FA Cup semi-finals.

Terry is one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players and racked up a staggering 717 appearances during his time at Stamford Bridge. But after Benitez took charge of the west London giants on an interim basis in November 2012, the former centre-back saw his playing time dwindle.

The 42-year-old, who won 78 caps for England, was even left out of the matchday squad at times. And after remaining on the bench during the FA Cup showdown with the Citizens, Terry called Benitez out for his attitude towards the defeat.

“We played Man City in the FA Cup, and he wasn’t playing me, so we were at loggerheads, arguing on the training pitch,” Terry told his former team-mate John Obi Mikel on the Nigerian’s Obi One Podcast this week. “He was leaving me out of the team, leaving me off the bench, but I insisted on travelling with the team. I was on the bench at Man City and we lost 2-1.

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“We came in after the game and he addressed the group and said, ‘Oh well guys, it doesn’t matter, we have another game at the weekend.’ At the time you could feel Man City were doing something and I’d just had enough. I said, ‘Is that accepted? No chance. You’ve accepted us losing to Man City.’

“I’m across the dressing room, all the lads are pulling me back, he’s now coming towards me, and I just said, ‘That’s not accepted at Chelsea. Maybe at Liverpool losing a quarter-final is acceptable, but at Chelsea that’s not accepted.’”

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Benitez’s stint at Chelsea is generally considered a success, with the Spainard leading the Blues to the Europa League trophy as well as a third-place Premier League finish. But he was never popular with the club’s fans due to the rivalry he had with Chelsea when he was in charge of Liverpool

And Terry previously told Sky Sports: “The supporters never took to him and wanted him out from day one. You could say he was quite successful, we won the Europa League under him of course but, for me personally, you want to develop and learn. I’d seen tactically how he’d set up against us previously. You give everyone a fair chance and it’s down to them to prove to you otherwise, but we just didn’t get on from day one.”

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