John Terry has delivered one of the most raw confessions ever heard from an elite footballer. This time, the Chelsea legend spoke about the emotional collapse that followed one defining night.
The moment dates back to the 2008 Champions League final in Moscow when Chelsea stood one kick away from their first European crown.
“I slipped. I hit the post,” Terry recalled of the decisive penalty. Rivals on the night Manchester United went on to win the shoot-out.
The pain of that crucial miss did not end on the pitch at the Luzhniki Stadium. Instead, it followed him back to the team hotel.
“After the game, we all went back to the hotel and I was on the 25th floor,” Terry said. “I was looking out the window going, ‘Why? Just why?’”
“I’m not saying that if you had that opportunity you’d jump,” he continued. “But things go through your head at that particular time.”
Those thoughts, he admitted, were overwhelming in the immediate aftermath. The weight of responsibility and regret became unbearable.
“Then the boys came up and took me downstairs,” Terry said. “It’s those ‘What if?’ moments where you just don’t know.” Time has passed, but the scar remains. “Still today it goes over in my head,” he admitted.
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“It’s softened over the years, for sure.” However, retirement has brought new challenges. “Now I’m retired I’ve not got that focus of playing every week,” Terry said. “It still really gets me.”
“I still wake up in the middle of the night” — A pain that never fully leaves
The former England captain revealed how the memory still invades quiet moments. “I still wake up in the middle of the night and go, ‘Oh, that did happen, yeah’,” he said.
“I don’t think that’ll ever go,” Terry added. The moment has become part of him.
“When I missed the penalty in Moscow, you find out very quickly who your friends are. You find the people who really care and look out for you,” Terry continued. Support, he learned, can be life-saving.
“Ray [Wilkins] was the first one on the phone after that game making sure I was OK,” he said. “And a few other people.”
Tags: John Terry, #CFC, #COYB, #UCL, Chelsea, Champions League final, Moscow, Luzhniki Stadium.
