‘We wouldn’t let Barca bully us’

JOHN TERRY admits he was upset and disappointed to see Barcelona’s world-class footballers resort to intimidating the referee.

Terry left the Nou Camp after Chelsea’s dramatic 2-2 draw with red scratch marks all around his neck and shoulders.

They were the wounds from another epic battle with Barca, but it is not the physical confrontation which concerns the England captain. He was more disturbed by the tactics of play-acting and card-waving from the Spanish champions.

Terry, aged 25, said: “I was surprised by the way they played and it’s disappointing to see some world-class players, who you fully respect, waving cards in the ref’s face.

“It’s disappointing when the ref is falling for it and showing cards so early on.

“They were making similar tackles to us and nothing was given, not even the foul let alone a yellow card.

“We’ve had it the last couple of years when we’ve come here. They try and break things up.

“The referee wasn’t great. He gave everything their way and it was disappointing.

“But we showed maturity. We matched them. We argued when had to and showed our calmness when we really had to.

“We weren’t coming here to get bullied by the referee or the players or the fans, or to get intimidated. We mixed and matched it with them.

“We outplayed them at times and showed great character.”

The Chelsea camp believe their success in two games against Barcelona will have a huge psychological impact on the rest of their season, especially in Europe.

They have taken four points from Frank Rijkaard’s team, generally regarded as worthy Champions League winners last season.

Mourinho’s team may be more about power than finesse but, if the teams meet again at the business end of the tournament, they will go into the game with the greatest confidence.

Terry said: “It says an awful lot about us. We have come here in the last couple of years and played really well, but this was special. We came here with the ref against us and everybody against us and we came out of it the better side. We were unfortunate not to get a win, but we’re delighted with a point.

Farina did not have a good game and Terry, booked for kicking the ball at Deco, believes the referee’s performance contributed to the ugly scenes of confrontation which marred the game.

The referee asked Terry and Barcelona’s Carles Puyol to control their players in the first half, but the Chelsea skipper said Farina refused to listen to the captains who wanted to talk to him.

Terry said: “He can’t have it all his own way. If he wants to speak to us and he wants us to calm the players around him down, then he’s got to listen to us after that. There were quite a few things going on off the ball and obviously the ref will sometimes miss it. That’s what his assistants are for, but he wasn’t even speaking to them or having a conversation to ask if they’d seen anything.

Farina sparked total confusion in the first half when he appeared to book Ashley Cole for the second time without sending him off.

Barcelona’s player and fans were baying to see a red card, but the first yellow card had actually been shown to Frank Lampard.

“The Barcelona players were trying to say Ashley should have been sent off

“Even the fourth official seemed to think it was Ashley’s second yellow card, but we just said to the ref that it wasn’t, he checked his book and we carried on.”