Despite forming arguably England's greatest centre back pairing of the last generation or so, Rio Ferdinand has long distanced himself from John Terry.
Their relationship broke down after the Chelsea captain was accused of racially abusing Rio's brother Anton during a Premier League fixture against QPR in October of 2011. While he would later be acquitted of any criminal charges, Terry would receive a four-game ban and £220,000 fine from the FA. He also retired from international football as a result.
That was essentially the end of any relationship between the pair, although they have been jibing at each other in public in recent days, something that reached a new height late last night.
The issue stems from a recent video that Ferdinand put out alongside Virgil van Dijk, where the pair ranked their five greatest defenders in Premier League history. The former Manchester United man would humbly rank himself in first place, placing Terry in fifth.
It was all rather innocuous stuff, until Terry's ego meant he had to get involved.
He took to Instagram a couple of days ago to share the stats that made his case for the no. 1 spot on the rankings.
John Terry on Instagram 👏 pic.twitter.com/bALrM1oiuG
— CFCDaily (@CFCDaily) May 25, 2022
The most on brand thing you are ever likely to see.
Things really took a turn late last night.
Ferdinand went on Twitter to call out Terry's response to the video. He threw a dig at his former England teammate's ego, saying he was lucky to be included at all considering the incident involving his brother. Terry's response was exactly what you would expect.
A fragile Ego is putting yourself at Number 1 @rioferdy5
Thanks for putting me in your top 5 🏆👍🏻— John Terry (@JohnTerry26) May 26, 2022
When another Twitter user asked why Terry did not address Ferdinand's racism claim, he had this to say.
Stats don’t lie “ NOT GUILTY”
Addressed it now what ? 🤡— John Terry (@JohnTerry26) May 26, 2022
Stats don’t lie “ NOT GUILTY”.
Addressed it now what?
While many would have expected this late night exchange to be quickly deleted, the tweets are still up.
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