John Terry felt a jab of pain when Adrian Lopez scored Atletico Madrid’s equaliser.
This time there was nothing to make it go away.
Chelsea’s captain was playing on one leg, overcoming the odds to take his place in a Champions League semi-final at Stamford Bridge. The fear now is that, at the grand old age of 33, he will never get to play in another. Atletico’s first goal crushed him.
He had been given a painkilling injection to numb his right ankle moments before Chelsea’s warm-up. He will be hurting again.There were times when he was trotting gingerly as he passed Diego Costa across Chelsea’s defence, but putting his body on the line is nothing new to him.
There will be times when he will wonder whether he should have played, particularly when he was wrong-footed in the build-up to Atletico’s equaliser.
He was caught, along with Chelsea’s defence, when Adrian scored just before the break. It was a clumsy goal to concede. Until then Chelsea had been thinking about the Estadio da Luz next month and their third appearance in a Champions League final.
There was a chance in the second half when Terry was sent forward for another set piece, hauling his frame at Willian’s free-kick.
When the Brazilian slung it in from the right, Terry connected with the cross but Thibaut Courtois was across his line to prevent Chelsea taking the lead. It felt then as though their chance had goneThe night before the game the captain had spoken, ‘100 per cent’ committed to reaching the final later this month against Real Madrid.
They have nine European Cups and Terry wanted to stop them reaching 10 on his watch.
He had done well to be out there against Atletico after he was forced off with that ankle injury in the first leg at the Vicente Calderon last Tuesday.
Jose Mourinho claimed his captain would play again this season only if Chelsea reached the final, but Terry is made of something else.
It was seven years ago, when he was captain of England, that he made the startling admission that he was prepared to end up in a wheelchair when his joints could take no more.He is still going, tailoring his game to combat the new threats in European football. Costa, who will be at Chelsea next season, is one of them.
To get on the pitch, Terry has been treated at his Surrey home by Chelsea’s team of physios. This was not one to miss, the chance to play in Lisbon against Carlo Ancelotti’s magnificent side in the final of the Champions League.
Terry guides team-mates through matches, organising all the time, and his defensive header from Koke’s 32nd-minute free-kick was his outstanding contribution to a game played at breathtaking pace.
Atletico were audacious and enterprising, just as their impressive coach Diego Simeone promised they would be.
Terry has seen it all before and there will be more Champions League football for him next season. The plan is to announce his new contract at the same time as Frank Lampard’s.
After 16 years with Chelsea, man and boy, the most consistent defender in European football over the past decade is being made to wait. It should be done and dusted, yet he is in the final days of the £150,000-a-week deal he signed in July 2009.For all his problems over the years, Terry remains one of the game’s finest defenders.
There was nothing he could do when Samuel Eto’o gave away the penalty that allowed Atletico to take the lead with half an hour remaining.
By then, Terry knew there was no way back
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