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Terry apologises for letting Chelsea down

John Terry insists he did not try to hurt Alexis Sanchez © Getty Images

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• Profile: John Terry

Chelsea captain John Terry admitted his red card at Barcelona did not look good but insists he is "not that type of player".

Chelsea's hopes of reaching the Champions League final looked to be over when Barcelona scored through Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta either side of Terry's dismissal for an off-the-ball foul on Alexis Sanchez.

However, the Blues rallied with a goal from Ramires and, after Lionel Messi missed a penalty and struck a post, Fernando Torres put the result beyond doubt in injury time.

It could have been very different, though, and Terry accept he "let the lads down".

"Sanchez was darting in behind me," he told Sky Sports. "I've seen the replay and it does look bad.

"I'm not that type of player to intentionally hurt anyone. I've raised my knee, which I maybe shouldn't have done in hindsight, but hopefully people who know me as a person, as a player... I'm not that type of player.

"I'm disappointed but delighted for the lads. To come here and play the way they did and get the result they did with ten men... I feel I've let them down. I've apologised to them and I want to apologise to the fans as well.

"At the time, I was bewildered because I was trying to protect myself a little bit, but looking at it on the replay, I've no complaints. I've let the lads down. They've performed brilliantly, so hopefully this doesn't take it away from the players.

"This is what this football club deserves. We deserve to be in the Champions League final. The boys were excellent and I hope the incident doesn't take away from how hard they worked."

Midfielder Frank Lampard, meanwhile, said the 3-2 aggregate victory was one of the greatest results of his 11-year Chelsea career.

"It's one of the finest moments I've felt in a Chelsea shirt," he said. "It was backs to the wall. I know we dug in and people want to see beautiful football, but with ten men for 50-odd minutes or whatever it was, to perform like that was unbelievable.

"That clock wasn't half slow in the second half! You know they're liable at any moment because of the players they've got in their team but there's a determination about us and you get what you deserve. We were all in it together and we dug in."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.