John Terry apologises to Mateo Kovacic after crushing his hand following Chelsea win

John Terry has cheekily apologised to Mateo Kovacic after

the Chelsea midfielder was left wincing in pain following a

very powerful handshake from the Aston Villa assistant.

The former Blues skipper was in the opposition dugout at

Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night as goals from Tammy

Abraham and Mason Mount secured a 2-1 victory for the

hosts.

Terry was given a warm reception on his return to a club

where he spent 22 years as a player, with fans staying

behind to chant his name after the full-time whistle.

Kovacic will certainly remember the night, with Terry having

left his mark on the Croatian as he went to shake hands with

the Villa assistant after the match.

The Chelsea midfielder grimaced as he grabbed hands with

Terry, shaking his hand in pain as he walked down the

tunnel, while Terry held out his hand as an apology as he

walked off.

Chelsea uploaded the clip on Instagram and tagged their

former skipper, writing: ‘Easy on the handshake, John!’

He obviously found it very amusing, replying with both a

laughing face emoji and flexing arm emoji, as well as tagging

Kovacic and writing, ‘Sorry mate’.

After almost pulling off Kovacic’s hand, Terry enjoyed a

touching moment on the Stamford Bridge pitch as fans

applauded a legend of the club, though he admitted it was

rather surreal to be back.

Asked about his emotional return to Stamford Bridge, he told

ChelseaTV: ‘Really strange actually, obviously being back for

the first time since I stopped playing. A great reception from

the supporters.

‘It’s a difficult one, because obviously we lost the game and

you don’t want to go out but I needed to show my

appreciation and the fans done that at the end of the game

as well, which was amazing for me.

‘So really humbled to be back and get the reception after a

couple of years, so big thank you to all the supporters that

sung my name today.’