Terry risks UEFA punishment after slating refs

Chelsea captain John Terry has criticised the standard of UEFA's elite referees following his side's elimination from the Champions League by Inter Milan last week.

Terry, who was widely quoted in Sunday's newspapers, could be cited by the European governing body after claiming that bad refereeing contributed to Chelsea's loss not only to Inter but also to Barcelona last season.

Chelsea had two penalty appeals turned down by German referee Wolfgang Stark against Inter on Tuesday while Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo turned down four penalty appeals at Stamford Bridge against Barcelona last season.

Terry also claimed that Stark "disrespected him" as Chelsea captain by turning his back when he went to speak to him.

"It was a bad performance by us but a really bad performance from the referee," Terry said. "It is not good enough at this stage of the competition. We do our best to get ourselves in this position and for two years running we get let down by bad refereeing. We need someone at the club to take it up with UEFA."

Terry, who has made plenty of headlines for the wrong reasons this season, now faces the risk of a punishment from UEFA after remarking: "I'm not going to say the word conspiracy. I am not using that term, but I'm so frustrated by what happened.

"Florent Malouda got fouled inside the box in the first half and the referee waved play on. Didier Drogba gets manhandled and if the referee misses it, we have the linesman.

"When a decision didn't go our way I, as captain, went to speak to the referee and he turned his back on me.

"I wasn't shouting. I went to try to talk to him and when he wouldn't talk that is when I got frustrated. That is just pure disrespect.

"If I get myself in trouble, then so be it. I owe it to our fans to speak out."

No UEFA spokesman was available for comment.

Terry will not lead England at the World Cup in South Africa this year after he was stripped of the national captaincy last month following newspaper revelations that he had had an extra-marital affair with the former partner of team mate Wayne Bridge.

- Reuters