man city 2-4

Independent:

Tevez steps into limelight as Chelsea turn to farce

Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4:

Premier League leaders end match with nine men and multitude of defensive howlers to reflect on

By Steve Tongue at Stamford Bridge

"We are top of the League," the home crowd chanted defiantly, for there was nothing else to crow about after this extraordinary game. Red was the colour – two Chelsea players being sent off in the second half – blue was the mood. A first home defeat for 15 months became a humiliation with Juliano Belletti and Michael Ballack dismissed and the second goal not arriving until it was too late to matter. Manchester United will go into the Carling Cup final today only a point behind at the top of the table, having been done a huge, unwitting favour by their noisy neighbours.
If Sir Alex Ferguson and his players were watching on TV, they must have been tempted to switch off once Frank Lampard climaxed Chelsea's initial 42 minutes of domination by scoring the opener. City had rarely crossed the halfway line at that point and barely tested Henrique Hilario in the home goal; which was just as well for Chelsea as it turned out. When they did, he was found seriously wanting and only five minutes after the interval had committed two errors to allow City the lead.
Suddenly the calf injury that Petr Cech sustained against Internazionale in midweek, keeping him out for up to a month, looked as though it could become a defining moment in Chelsea's season. When Inter arrive for the second leg of their Champions' League tie in just over a fortnight's time it will be Chelsea's fourth successive home game, but on yesterday's evidence that will offer no encouragement. Although it had been 38 games since Arsenal won at the Bridge, in November 2008, they were taken apart by just the sort of counter-attacking that other opponents – Inter above all – will want to emulate.
Talking of the Bridge, Wayne's reappearance at his former ground became something of a sideshow, the only relevance to the match being whether John Terry really is being affected by the whole, er, affair. Having headed the winning goal at Burnley the day after the story originally broke, he has given several shaky performances since and was as much at fault for the first goal yesterday as his goalkeeper. That said, neutrals were grateful for the whole Terry-Bridge pantomime of heroes and villains during the first half-an-hour, when so little else of interest was occurring.
There was a real lunchtime tempo, summed up when Florent Malouda, forced to deputise at left-back again, took a free-kick that went for a throw-in on the far side of the pitch. The moment when Bridge declined to shake Terry's hand before the game was much the most dramatic until Joe Cole's shrewd pass and Lampard's equally clever run benefited from Vincent Kompany's foolish attempt at playing offside and Joleon Lescott's faulty positioning. Lampard's low shot went in off the far post.
City, with Emmanuel Adebayor suspended, produced nothing until a huge, undeserved bonus materialised in added time at the end of the first half. Bridge, of all people, sent a long punt downfield, John Obi Mikel misheaded, and Terry was caught on the wrong side of Carlos Tevez. The shot was so weak that Hilario could, as the old timers would say, have thrown his cap on it. Instead, starting from the wrong position, the goalkeeper went down late, got one weak hand on the ball and made no impression on what little pace there was on the ball.
Astonishingly, an unmarked Lescott should have added a second goal almost immediately, heading Craig Bellamy's free-kick beyond the far post as Terry lay on the ground. Five minutes into the second half, City were ahead anyway after the first of three superb counters, all involving Bellamy. For this one he raced away from a static Mikel on to Gareth Barry's pass and shot across Hilario, who was again badly positioned.
Carlo Ancelotti felt Chelsea "lost balance" after the interval. He made three substitutions, only to see his team lose two players and two more goals. In the 76th minute Bellamy sent Barry through to be brought down by the merest touch from Belletti. The Argentinian went off and his compatriot Tevez put the penalty away.
There might still have been a way back, but Ballack, already on one yellow card, received another – which might have been a straight red – for a dreadful two-footed lunge at Tevez.
The game was up, though not over; City broke with five men against three and played it perfectly for Shaun Wright-Phillips to set up Bellamy's tap-in. Lampard's late penalty was a mere gesture. "Football is strange," said City's manager Roberto Mancini. He was not wrong.

Attendance: 41,814
Referee: Mike Dean
Man of the match: Tevez

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Sunday Times

City rally leaves John Terry with no defence
Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4

Duncan Castles at Stamford Bridge

LET’S do as John Terry keeps telling us he wants to do, and concentrate on the football. In his past four appearances, Chelsea’s captain has cost his team three points at Goodison Park, placed them in grave danger at Molineux, handed two gilt-edged scoring chances to Internazionale at the San Siro and seriously compromised their Premier League lead at Stamford Bridge.
Here’s the rub for Terry. Either the fallout from his myriad off-field indiscretions has damaged Chelsea’s spirit or he’s just not up to the basic job of leading a defence. Whichever judgment you make, the man is turning from self-created legend into self-destructing liability. Wayne Bridge detests him, though right now Terry must be Sir Alex Ferguson’s favourite footballer.
No Roman Abramovich team have capitulated like this, exchanging a comfortable first-half lead for a 4-1 deficit and having not one but two experienced internationals sent off for senseless challenges. Chelsea had not lost on home territory for 37 straight games and Manchester City not so much as found the net here in seven visits stretching back to 2000.
Neither did they look likely to score yesterday until Terry’s latest misjudgment. Faced with Bridge’s long, hopeful clearance, Chelsea’s captain hesitated in taking on the header, leaving John Obi Mikel to deflect it back towards him. Again, Terry failed to take charge, fatefully pausing as his diminutive opponent Carlos Tevez brought the ball down and accelerated towards goal. So lacking is Terry in pace these days, his only remaining option was to foul. No slide tackle was made, Tevez reached the area and teased a shot across Hilario. If Chelsea’s back-up goalkeeper had his angles badly wrong, he had certainly been left exposed by the captain.
Having entered the match with a grudge to settle on Bridge’s behalf, City were suddenly energised. Early in the second half, Craig Bellamy angled in another finish after another counterattack in which Terry forlornly trailed attackers. Gareth Barry pick-pocketed Juliano Belletti to win a penalty for the third; another sprint past Terry’s malfunctioning rearguard brought the fourth.
As astonishing as Chelsea’s collapse was their manager’s assessment of the causes. “John Terry didn’t make a mistake today,” insisted Carlo Ancelotti. “Where is the mistake? John Terry was not involved in the mistake [for the first goal]. He didn’t miss the header.”
The coach’s verbal defence was his most stalwart. Had Terry been affected by reporting of his personal life? “No.” Were there any circumstances in which he’d drop him? “No, there is no reason for him to stay out.”
So what went wrong? “I want to think that we lost the balance. We were two against one for the first goal with Tevez. We stayed two against two in the second goal, we lost balance in both situations.”
In truth Chelsea’s problems have developed with the season. Early in the campaign there were issues with set-piece marking and a shallow defensive line. Terry and Petr Cech have frequently been at odds, the goalkeeper accused of not dominating his penalty area, the defender dropping too deep in fear of faster strikers.
In the past week, Internazionale and City have demonstrated different ways to unbutton Chelsea in open play. Jose Mourinho won the Champions League tie by playing two quick forwards and leaving Wesley Sneijder free to manufacture chances behind. Here City triumphed with classic counterattacking, Roberto Mancini lining up five in midfield and asking Tevez to sniff opportunities around the centre-backs.
Frank Lampard claimed the first goal in this meeting of the League’s two most expensively acquired squads, sprinting across City’s central defence to gather Joe Cole’s pass and redirect to the far corner.
Instead of the second came Terry’s error. After Bellamy steamed past Mikel to beat Hilario from a tight angle, City were content to play out time, choosing to propel free kicks towards their own goal rather than Chelsea’s. Ancelotti substituted the wrong defender in Ricardo Carvalho and Barry got behind Belletti to draw both penalty and red card.
Just returned from his daughter’s premature birth in Argentina, Tevez completed his third finish this season against Chelsea. “I love playing against a big club and every time I score,” he said. “Sorry, Chelsea.”
The disarray was underlined as Michael Ballack took a second yellow for cutting down the striker before another counter presented Bellamy with an open goal. Lampard’s stoppage-time penalty was irrelevant. Sorry Chelsea indeed.

Star man: Carlos Tevez (Man City)

Yellow cards: Chelsea: Terry, Ivanovic, Ballack Man City: Zabaleta Red cards: Chelsea: Belletti, Ballack
Referee: M Dean

Attendance: 41,814

Chelsea: Hilario 4, Ivanovic 5, Carvalho 6 (Kalou 69min), Terry 4, Malouda 5, Ballack 5, Mikel 4 (Belletti 60min, 5), Lampard 6, Anelka 5, Drogba 6, J Cole 6 (Sturridge 60min, 5)

Manchester City: Given 7, Richards 7, Kompany 6, Lescott 7, Bridge 7 (Santa Cruz 78min), Zabaleta 6, De Jong 7, Barry 7, Bellamy 8, Tevez 8 (Sylvinho 90min), A Johnson 6 (Wright-Phillips 60min)


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Observer:

Chelsea see red as Manchester City triumph in battle of the Bridge

Chelsea 2 Lampard 42, Lampard (pen) 90 Manchester City 4 Tevez 45, Bellamy 51, Tevez (pen) 76, Bellamy 87

Paul Wilson at Stamford Bridge

John Terry has certainly had better days. Quite apart from his team losing at home for the first time this season and being snubbed in the handshake parade by Wayne Bridge, the Chelsea captain had given Henrique Hilário a personal vote of confidence in his column in the match programme.
"He's done so well that it looks like he could be going to the World Cup with Portugal," Terry said of Chelsea's stand-in goalkeeper. "Obviously everyone here has total belief in him."
Not any more they don't. Manchester City mounted only two serious attacks in the first hour and scored from both of them, courtesy of Hilário's lack of positional sense and authority between the posts. That was the decisive factor in the game, along with the return of Carlos Tevez, even before Chelsea began losing players through their own indiscipline.
While that made City's job easier towards the end, the visitors had put themselves in a winning position against 11 men, not nine. Only the final City goal, when Tevez led a breakout from his own half and Craig Bellamy picked up his second of the afternoon from a Shaun Wright-Phillips cross, was attributable to Chelsea's lack of numbers. Everything else was their own fault, and even after one of the most boring and uneventful opening half hours of the season it was impossible to see it coming.
Of all the preposterous and fanciful predictions that were made before this match, everything from handshake boycotts to Bridge coming on as a substitute after two minutes, none featured Chelsea finishing with nine men and letting their opponents score four.
City just did not appear to have a result like this in them, yet ended up doing Manchester United a massive favour. This result effectively cancels out United's loss of three points at Goodison last week and means Chelsea lead by a single point. If anything, Chelsea were worse at home than United had been at Everton.
You do not need to spell out the fact that you have total belief in your own goalkeeper unless the issue is a concern, and as soon as Hilário demonstrated uncertainty the belief drained out of Chelsea and into their opponents, with Bellamy and Tevez showing a surgical instinct for the jugular.
A dull first 40 minutes was inevitably likened to a Serie A contest, given the nationalities of the two managers, and it was beginning to look as if the Bridge and Terry show might be all the Bridge had to offer until two goals arrived together on the stroke of the interval. First Joe Cole played in Frank Lampard with a measured pass into the area, picking up the midfielder's diagonal run and enabling Lampard to stroke the ball past Shay Given and in off a post without fully looking up.
Having done most of the attacking Chelsea were just about worth their lead, and though Cole must have been expecting to supply Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka with ammunition from his position just behind the front two, Joleon Lescott and Vincent Kompany excelled in looking after Chelsea's front line of attack. City just found, like many others, that it was still necessary to counter the threat of Lampard breaking forward from midfield.
Three minutes later, however, they were back in the game, finding a way through Hilário the first time they put him to the test. Chelsea were attacking as normal time drew to a close, and after Given saved from Cole a hoofed clearance from Bridge was inadvertently helped into Tevez's path by a header from Mikel John Obi. Using that bit of good fortune to his advantage Tevez beat first Terry then Ricardo Carvalho, and though he was hampered by Terry's attempt at recovery when shooting so that his effort limped almost apologetically across the line, he still placed it well enough to beat Hilário's comically despairing dive.
If the Chelsea goalkeeper was at fault for the equaliser, his shortcomings were even more evident when City took the lead early in the second half. Launching a swift counter, Gareth Barry fed the ball to Bellamy on halfway, for the winger to take on and beat Mikel down the left and find the far corner from a narrow angle with a low shot that the goalkeeper allowed to cross him.
At least Hilário could not be blamed for City's third. After Juliano Belletti had attempted to atone for being dispossessed by Barry by climbing all over the midfielder, conceding a penalty and being dismissed as the last defender, the goalkeeper had no chance of keeping out Tevez's fiercely struck spot-kick.
That tilted the game decisively City's way. Michael Ballack's dismissal, for an untidy challenge on Tevez that brought a second yellow, simply made matters worse. Any one of three or four players could have scored the fourth goal, such was the number of options and overlaps open to City, and though Lampard pulled a goal back from the penalty spot after Anelka had been brought down, no one at Chelsea felt the final score was any more respectable.
"We are disappointed but we have to look forward," Carlo Ancelotti said. "Until Petr Cech is back we have to have confidence in Hilário. We have to wait three or four weeks, but we hope Cech will be back sooner."


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Telegraph:

Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4
By Jeremy Wilson at Stamford Bridge

No handshake from Wayne Bridge and no points for Chelsea. All in all, it was a truly a miserable afternoon for John Terry.
This 4-2 defeat against Manchester City was also Chelsea’s first home loss of the season and a result which leaves both Manchester United and Arsenal in reach of the Premier League leaders with only 10 matches remaining.
As expected, Bridge followed up his decision to make himself unavailable for England selection by very publicly refusing to shake the out-stretched hand of Terry, his former Chelsea team-mate.
The ex-England captain, who was sporting a new Mohican-style hair-style, looked thoroughly unconcerned and was certainly not addressing any of the wider issues in a set of programme notes which contained the usual optimism about Chelsea’s chances this season of winning three trophies.
After the drama of the non-handshake, the opening half-an-hour was largely devoid of incident. Chelsea were generally in control, but could only fashion a flurry of half-chances for both Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba from which Shay Given, the Manchester City goalkeeper, went untested.
With Fabio Capello and his assistant Franco Baldini looking on, Bridge was largely able to block out the booing and deliver the sort of solid performance both in defence and attack that has made him Ashley Cole’s England understudy over much of the past decade.
The big chance, though, was for Joe Cole, who started in his preferred position at the tip of the Chelsea diamond and assumed a growing influence as the first-half unfolded. In the 42nd minute, he delivered a delightful defence-splitting pass with the outside of boot from which Frank Lampard put Chelsea ahead.
Manchester City had created nothing and looked in danger of falling further behind before equalising on the stroke of half-time in the most unexpected of circumstances. Bridge had thumped a hopeful ball forward which John Obi-Mikel attempted to head back to Terry, only for Carlos Tevez to intercept.
He then turned inside Ricardo Carvalho and scuffed a shot which carried just enough power to dribble beyond Henrique Hilario and into the Chelsea goal.
It was difficult to imagine Petr Cech conceding from a similar situation and, within minutes of the re-start, Manchester City took the lead following further questionable defending. This time it was Craig Bellamy who collected the ball in space and, with Mikel backing off, his angled shot crept past the out-stretched hand of Hilario.
In terms of the Terry-Bridge sub-plot, the closest thing to a flash-point occurred midway through the second-half when Tevez, who had previously made a very public display of a ‘Team Bridge’ T-shirt, squared up to the Chelsea captain after the two players had tangled in the penalty area.
Chelsea pushed forward in search of an equaliser but looked increasingly vulnerable on the counter-attack. Bellamy missed one excellent chance before Gareth Barry got the wrong side of the Chelsea defence and was brought down by Juliano Belletti.
There was no deliberate attempt to trip Barry, but the former Barcelona defender had clearly got the wrong side of his opponent and left referee Mike Dean with little option but to brandish a red card. From the resulting penalty, Tevez shot beyond Hilario.
Michael Ballack then completely lost his discipline and, having previously been booked for dissent, he went straight through Tevez with a dreadful challenge that provoked an inevitable second yellow card.
As he left the pitch, Carlo Ancelotti completely ignored the Germany midfielder. With Chelsea down to nine-men and horribly exposed, Manchester City scored their fourth following an excellent inter-change of passing between Tevez and
Shaun Wright-Phillips that was finished by Bellamy. Even a late penalty from Lampard could not sour what had been a sweet afternoon for Manchester City and, most notably, Wayne Bridge.

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Mail:

Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4:

John Terry shunned by Wayne Bridge as Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy humble nine men

By Rob Draper

The humiliation of John Terry could scarcely have been more complete. Just after Manchester City had swept upfield, making light of a Chelsea team by then reduced to nine men, and Craig Bellamy had tapped in their fourth goal, Terry could be seen stalking back to the centre circle, a defeated man.
He exchanged angry words with Didier Drogba, though it surely owed more to emotional instinct than rational analysis of what had taken place.
For Chelsea have not experienced a home defeat like this for years and by this stage there was little to argue over:
As they turned to return to their half, Tevez then pointed to Bridge, deflecting the glory to him and indicating the motivation behind a remarkable second-half performance.
It was an afternoon that could scarcely have gone worse for Chelsea or Terry. 'It was very disappointing,' said their manager Carlo Ancelotti. 'We made a mistake and usually in football if you do that, you lose the game. We are still top of the league, if only by a point, but it is a point and that is not bad. That is the only good thing from today. Today is not a good day for us.'
And though Ancelotti would not attribute any significance to the hype surrounding this match and the very public clash of Terry and Bridge, something had clearly undermined his team's confidence.
For in the seven years since he bought the club, Roman Abramovich has not seen Chelsea lose at home and concede four goals in the process.
Nor has he witnessed quite as spectacular a meltdown in discipline, with Juliano Belletti and Michael Ballack both sent off as the game ran away from them.
The latter point Ancelotti did acknowledge.
'We could have avoided some behaviour on the pitch and not have two players sent off,' he said.
That said, it you wanted men to fight your corner, Bellamy and Tevez would be your first two picks.
Yesterday, neither took a step backwards, quite literally in Tevez's case when, despite being a full foot smaller, he strode aggressively towards Terry in one confrontation.
Both City players were magnificent, particularly Tevez, who had endured a transatlantic flight from Buenos Aires and the stress of caring for his prematurely born daughter in the days before this game.
For Mancini it was a huge win, his chances of securing the fourth Champions League spot significantly increased. 'This game could change our season,' he claimed.
That said, Chelsea appeared to be strolling towards victory when Frank Lampard confidently finished on 43 minutes.
It was just reward but then came the game's turning point - and inevitably Bridge was at the heart of it.
The clearance he hoofed upfield was in desperation, but John Obi Mikel's attempted clearance played in Tevez and, with Terry failing to clear twice, he was allowed a shot which trickled past Henrique Hilario and into the goal.
It was a collective defensive calamity but Terry has now made five errors, all of which have led to goals, in the past four games. Ancelotti's attempts to defend him were unconvincing.
'What mistake did John Terry make today?' he dead-panned. 'He has made some mistakes in other games but not today.'
The second half became a City romp. Bellamy terrorised Mikel on 53 minutes, sprinting past him before shooting past Hilario, again at fault. Barry contrived the third on 77 minutes, spinning past Belletti, whose foolish attempt to recover the ball conceded a penalty and earned him a red card.
Tevez dispatched the spot-kick and Ballack's attempt to extract revenge on his team's tormentor on 81 minutes merited his second yellow card and ended the resistance.
Shaun Wright-Phillips' pace on 87 minutes further exposed Chelsea, his cross falling for Bellamy, who finished neatly.
And though Lampard converted a penalty awarded against Barry for a foul on Nicolas Anelka in the 90th minute, he did so in front of a half-empty Stamford Bridge.
For by then this fairytale was complete, and the good guy had won.

MATCH FACTS

Chelsea (4-3-3): Hilario; Ivanovic, Carvalho (Kalou 69min), Terry, Malouda; Ballack, Mikel (Belletti 61), Lampard; J Cole (Sturridge 61), Drogba, Anelka. Subs (not used): Turnbull, Ferreira, Kalou, Matic, Alex. Booked: Ivanovic, Terry, Ballack. Sent off: Belletti 75min, Ballack 81min.

Manchester City (4-5-1): Given; Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Bridge (Santa Cruz 77); Johnson (Wright-Phillips 61), Barry, De Jong, Zabaleta, Bellamy; Tevez (Sylvinho 89). Subs (not used): Taylor, Onuoha, Toure, Ibrahim. Booked: Zabaleta.
Referee: M Dean (Wirral).

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NOTW:

CARLOS THE CACKLE HAS THE LAST LAUGH FOR BRIDGE

Chelsea 2 Man City 4

By Andy Dunn

AS protocol demanded, the City players lined up to shake him by the hand. And then one even ruffled his hair.
And meanwhile, 50 yards away from Carlos Tevez, John Terry stood in glassy- eyed isolation, his spirit seemingly broken.
Not by a month's worth of outrage, not by the man in the stands who tore the England armband from his bicep.
But by the indefatigability of Tevez. By the brilliance of Craig Bellamy, whose disdain for Terry could hardly have been more pronounced.
Team Bridge had taken brutal revenge.
Make no mistake, they were motivated by their sympathy for their team-mate.
As Tevez emerged from a celebratory huddle following his second goal of a remarkable afternoon, he collared Bridge, turned him to face the joyous knot of City fans and pointed repeatedly at his friend.
This was for him. Sure. And when the day began, it was all about him. About him, Terry and the whole tawdry saga.
But by the end of these astonishing proceedings, it was about so much more.
About Tevez - jet-lagged but jet-heeled, eyelids still heavy with worry over his poorly baby girl - squaring up to Terry and spinning him in ever-decreasing circles.
About Bellamy exposing a Chelsea defence as the injury-ravaged, insecure mess that it has become.
About Petr Cech... and he wasn't even on the pitch. His absence could be a mortal blow to Chelsea's challenge for success.
This contest was simply a damaging litany of disasters for Chelsea and a triumph to muffle whispers of impending mutiny at Eastlands.
A counter-attacking masterclass against a team that lost all discipline.
Physical discipline. How else can you explain Juliano Belletti allowing himself to be ambushed by Gareth Barry, prompting a penalty and inevitable red card?
Mental discipline. Michael Ballack's act of wanton violence against Tevez - reducing Chelsea to nine men - was staggeringly irresponsible.
But a couple of weeks at his sick daughter's bedside and a long-haul flight that touched down just a day previously had not dampened the exuberance of Tevez... so a hack from a brassed-off Ballack was unlikely to do so.
Tevez was withdrawn late on to take those handshakes and deserved acclaim.
Carlo Ancelotti looked a picture of bemusement. Which maybe explains why he claimed Terry had a flawless game.
In fact, the cursory gestures from City's Bridge loyalists prior to the game provided a fitting symbol of Terry's afternoon.
Of his current form. No great shakes.
His defensive instincts seem to have been dulled by the drama.
After Frank Lampard's pristine finish, Terry was only one member of a quartet culpable for a slightly surreal equaliser but it was the type of situation he normally takes command of.
Instead, he was scrambling around the fringes of a farce created by John Obi Mikel's aberration of a header from a Bridge punt. Terry's positional sense has never been his strong suit but it looks unusually awry right now. That is why he was stranded and booked when curtailing a straightforward Adam Johnson run with a trip.
Sixty yards away, Joleon Lescott looked footsure in comparison and, in the posh seats, Fabio Capello wore a quizzical look.
It was an informative afternoon for the England manager. Bridge, understandably, didn't do quite enough to send Capello to go pleading at the steps of the team bus.
Joe Cole showed vestiges of his best, particularly when threading the pass through for Lampard to find the bottom corner in that unerring manner of his.
Barry dripped maturity, Lescott solidity, Johnson naivety.
But City's English contingent were lifted by the first Tevez goal - one that confirmed fears that rippled around the club when Cech made an urgent rolling gesture to the bench in the San Siro.
Even after shaking himself clear of Terry's attentions, Tevez had only enough balance to nudge rather than shoot.
A dentist's appointment goes quicker yet still it crept to equality.
Hilario fell slowly, Chelsea instantly. From the moment Mike Dean signalled the start of the second half. Even though Barry's pass was predictably curled and cultured, Bellamy should never have been allowed to be left with only Mikel's presence to navigate past.
The outcome was inevitable, the oblique finish accomplished, Hilario's wrist limp.
Not a moment too soon, Mikel made way for Belletti. Dumb and dumber.
The substitute dallied, Barry robbed and Belletti clambered over him like someone trying to mount a scampering Shetland pony.
The penalty, thumped with ill-concealed glee by Tevez, was as automatic as the red card.
Mature, experienced, cerebral footballer he is, Ballack - already cautioned for dissent - stood up to be counted for his weakened team.
Stood up to be counted as the second to leave early. He can consider himself fortunate that Dean did not flourish red alone.
For a moment, it seemed that Tevez might be back on another flatbed seat but the stretcher was eventually shooed away and the irrepressible Argentine played a part in the fourth act of vengeance.
Outnumbered, out on their feet, Terry and what was left of his defence were bypassed by a move that ended with a Bellamy tap-in.
Lampard's second - a penalty after Nicolas Anelka had been tripped by Barry - was an embarrassing irrelevance.
By now, Bridge was in the treatment room. The physical treatment room, that is.
Maybe the occasion had eventually affected him.
Maybe it had taken its toll and his troubled mind had told his body to take a rest.
He was professional yesterday. He certainly did not deserve the jeers that accompanied his early touches.
Those jeers quietened as the contest went on, Chelsea fans knowing there was something of far greater concern unfolding - indeed, unravelling - in front of them.
For City, this was the type of result and performance that could inspire a rousing end to the season.
No wonder Roberto Mancini was as animated as we have seen him since his arrival.
Unlike Ancelotti, who was as terse as we have known him since his own arrival.
His mood will hardly be improved if he watches a flat-screen re-run. He will see a moment that has become chillingly familiar to Chelsea managers. One that should be accompanied by menacing, slow boom-boom music.
It is the camera cutaway to a place high up in the stands. The owner's box.
And sitting there on his own with mild exasperation etched on his face was Roman Abramovich.
Abramovich was said to be unhappy with the off-the-field scandal enveloping his club. Now, he has viewed on-the-field scandal. And he looked none too pleased.
Terry never shot him a glimpse but applauded the stragglers and then walked off in a thunderous mood.
He never got to grip the hand of his former best mate... but now Terry has to shake himself, his team and his club out of a drama that could yet become a crisis.