Mourinho blasts ‘dangerous’ Maccabi pitch, Terry doubtful for Tottenham clash

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Chelsea captain John Terry could miss this weekend’s London derby clash with Tottenham after suffering an injury in the 4-0 Champions League win at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

The veteran centre-back had to substituted in the second-half and was replaced by Kurt Zouma, who scored the Blues’ last goal of the night.

Terry appeared to land awkwardly on his ankle after buckling under pressure from Maccabi midfielder Gal Alberman in the 70th minute at the Sammy Ofer Stadium; and asked if Terry was a doubt for the game against Spurs, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho answered: ‘Of course he is.’

Mourinho, who also lost Ramires to an injury in training on Monday, had criticised the quality of Maccabi’s pitch and the injury to his skipper only compounded those concerns.

The Portuguese said: “The pitch doesn’t help the team with more quality – it was really difficult for us.

“One injury yesterday on this pitch with Ramires and another today with John Terry. But I am happy that it is only two because the pitch is really bad.’

Mourinho added: ‘I was saying before, such a beautiful stadium, such a fantastic public. They deserve a better surface because the surface was bad and dangerous.

“We trained on it just a little bit. We tried to protect ourselves. But by my surprise, Maccabi trained after us. Plus the warm-up before the game, the pitch was really bad.

“Ramires slid and has a muscular injury. John has an ankle injury I think down to the pitch, and we don’t know how bad it is yet.’

BT Sports pundit, Rio Ferdinand later echoed Mourinho’s comments in his analysis: ‘A pitch like that is nerve-wracking for a player.’

Chelsea’s win over Maccabi, which also saw Willian, Gary Cahill and Oscar get their names on the scoresheet in Israel moves them top of Group G with a favourable chance of qualifying for the Champions League’s last 16.

Source: TheGuardian