John Terry doubtful to face Tottenham as Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho blames poor pitch for defender's injury

Critical: Jose Mourinho blamed the state of the pitch for the ankle injury that John Terry sustained
Ian Walton/Getty Images
Vaishali Bhardwaj24 November 2015

Jose Mourinho blamed the quality of the pitch at the Sammy Ofer Stadium for causing the apparent ankle injury that John Terry sustained during Chelsea's Champions League win over Maccabi Tel Aviv on Tuesday night, and admitted the defender may now miss the London derby with Tottenham this weekend.

Terry was stretchered off the pitch in the second half of Chelsea's 4-0 victory in Israel after the 34-year-old appeared to land awkwardly on the pitch.

Despite his side going on to secure a comfortable win that leaves the Blues only requiring a draw in their final Champions League group stage match to book their place in the knockout rounds, Mourinho revealed Terry may have suffered a serious injury, which could rule him out of Chelsea's crucial Premier League clash with Spurs at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

"The surface was bad and dangerous," the Portuguese tactician said after the game in Israel.

"John has an ankle problem that we don't know yet the dimension of.

Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Chelsea player ratings

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"For John to leave the pitch with the result 1-0 I know already that he is in trouble.

"My medical department is really good. John is a special guy, with a special desire to recover.

"But I think to leave the pitch with the result 1-0, I don't believe too much that he can play (against Spurs)."

Mourinho opted to make several changes on Tuesday to the Chelsea side that beat Norwich City 1-0 at the weekend as he brought in Gary Cahill for Kurt Zouma, Cesar Azpilicueta for Branislav Ivanovic, Abdul Baba Rahman at left-back and Oscar in place of Pedro.

However, the Portuguese coach was forced to omit Ramires from his starting XI to face Maccabi after the midfielder suffered an injury during training at the Sammy Ofer Stadium a day earlier.

And Mourinho - who was seen trying to replace bits of soil on the pitch during the Champions League game against Maccabi - confirmed Ramires had sustained a muscular injury as a result of the condition of the pitch.

"The pitch was really bad. Ramires slid and had a muscular injury," he said.

Speaking about his efforts to level out the playing surface after Cahill's goal, Mourinho added: "I think after what I did, I think it was worse. I tried."

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