John Terry, the defender who once finished a match in goal
In October 2006 Chelsea lost both goalkeepers to injury against Reading with no substitutes left, so their captain pulled on the gloves. John Terry kept a clean sheet for the final minutes and Chelsea won 1–0. It fits a career spent throwing himself in front of whatever needed stopping.
Terry grew up in Barking, east London, and began as a midfielder in West Ham's youth system before moving to Chelsea at 14. A shortage of central defenders in the youth ranks pushed him back to centre-back, and he never played anywhere else afterwards. He debuted in 1998, spent a short loan at Nottingham Forest in 2000, and was voted Chelsea's player of the year after his first full run in the side.
José Mourinho made him captain in 2004, and the first season delivered a title built on the stingiest defence the English league had ever seen, plus the professionals' player of the year award for Terry. Over 19 years at the club he lifted five league titles, five FA Cups, three League Cups, the Europa League and the Champions League. In 2017 he became the first man to captain a Premier League champion five times.
He paid physically for it. During the 2007 League Cup final he dived to head a corner and was kicked in the face, lost consciousness and nearly swallowed his tongue; he discharged himself from hospital and returned to the stadium to celebrate. A year later, with a partly dislocated elbow, he stepped up in the Champions League final shootout against Manchester United with the trophy on his boot, slipped, and missed.
He was not merely a blocker. In 2011 he completed 91.6 percent of his passes, a rate beaten only by Xavi and Leon Britton among players attempting over 1,000. He was named UEFA's club defender of the year three times, and after finishing his playing days at Aston Villa he coached there, helping win promotion in 2019.
Source: John Terry
