JOHN TERRY tried to be a hero with his infamous Champions League final penalty shoot-out miss, claims former team-mate Claude Makele.
The ex-Chelsea captain hit the post after slipping as he took his spot-kick, handing Manchester United the 2008 Champions League trophy.
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But it has now been claimed Terry was never meant to take the penalty in the first place.
Makelele, 52, revealed Solomon Kalou was in line to step up instead.
And he believes a mistake was made as Terry took on the job instead, as he wanted to be a “hero”.
Speaking on The LineUp, brought to you by BetMGM and talkSPORT, he said: “The dressing room after the game was like fire. There was no happiness whatsoever – it was a sad place to be.
“We made a big mistake ahead of the penalties. We had an order which was agreed with the players and the manager, but it changed at the last minute.
“It was supposed to be Salomon Kalou taking the last penalty but John [Terry] took the opportunity off him. I think we lost this competition because football is very harsh sometimes and, if you don’t do things the right way, you get punished.
“I was very angry when he missed the penalty because it was a chance that I knew a lot of the young players wouldn’t get. I’d won the Champions League before but, in this moment, John had to be the leader and do what was best for the team.
“He didn’t make sure we won the trophy, he tried to be a hero. If he knew this, he would have been a hero because he would have lifted the trophy.”
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Terry, 44, has spoken about how that pivotal moment “broke” him.
He said: “I just remember standing looking over Moscow in my hotel, I was on about the 25th floor, just looking out.
“Just asking, ‘Why? Why then? Why did it start raining? Why did I slip?’ All of these things that go over [in your head].
“Probably the hardest thing was that three days later we met up with England. We had a friendly at Wembley against the USA.
“I ended up scoring a header from outside the box and that was probably the hardest moment.
“Because if I could swap any goal in my career it would be that. I scored a header from 18 yards and after the game it f***ing broke me.”