John Terry has been mercilessly mocked by football fans since 2012 for his decision to wear full kit after Chelsea were crowned European champions for the first time in Munich.
The legendary Blues defender missed the 2011-12 Champions League final through suspension after picking up a needless red card against Barcelona in the semis.
Despite not playing a single minute in the final, Terry was the name on every fans’ lips later that evening for his prominent role in the celebrations after Chelsea’s dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Bayern Munich.
Four years earlier in Moscow, Terry experienced the worst night of his professional career when he missed the penalty that would have seen Chelsea win the 2008 Champions League final at Manchester United’s expense.
So the relief he felt to see his teammates win the European Cup in Munich - without him and against all the odds - must have been enormous. There’s no doubt that he would have felt at least partly responsible had Chelsea fallen at the final hurdle again.
Why did John Terry wear full kit in Munich?
Years later, Terry was asked why he decided to wear full kit - shirt, shorts, socks, boots… the lot - by Holly Willoughby while appearing on Sky’s A League Of Their Own.
The retired centre-back laughed awkwardly when asked the question.
With the likes of Bradley Walsh and Romesh Ranganathan also on the game show, he must have feared the worst in that moment.
Walsh joked: “JT, you’re amongst friends here, be honest: no-one’s gonna take the p***. Not even Romesh, who’s an Arsenal fan.”
Frank Lampard defends John Terry
But before Terry could answer, his fellow Chelsea legend Frank Lampard bailed him out with a brilliant response to the question.
“Can I answer first,” the Premier League icon said, “because it’s not easy for John to say, right.
“Two major things. First, social media these days, it all exploded because of jealous people who didn’t like the fact that Chelsea won it, John won it, blah blah blah.
“Secondly, he was our captain for ten years before that roughly, so if he’d have wanted to go up in his Speedos and pick it up, he could have done what he liked.”
Watch the clip here…
Fair play to Lampard for sticking up for his old mate.
You can tell from Terry’s face as he listened to Lampard’s heartfelt words that he thoroughly appreciated his former teammate’s intervention.
Lampard made a perfectly valid point, too.
Terry gave his all for Chelsea, captaining the Blues during the most successful period in the club’s history, and deserved to be part of the celebrations.
Did it really matter *that* much that he decided to wear full kit?
Certainly not in the eyes of Chelsea fans and his teammates.
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