It's all gold for Terry

Captain John Terry hailed Chelsea's performance as among their "best ever" after they stifled free-scoring Barcelona with a disciplined defensive display.

Terry was hailed as "inspirational" by coach Guus Hiddink after the game but the Chelsea defender was quick to shift the praise on to the entire team.

"The whole team defended well," said Terry. "It was important we kept our shape and no-one stepped out of it. I thought we did that really well."

Barcelona had scored in every home game this season and were last held at home by Manchester United at the same stage of the competition last season.

Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry have scored 90 goals between them in all competitions this season but Chelsea's defensive tactics kept them at bay.

Allied to stalwart outfield performances from front to back was Petr Cech's commanding display which saw him deny Daniel Alves, Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry and Aleksandr Hleb with fine saves.

Terry added: "The manager stressed before the game there would be a spell of 10, 15 or even 20 minutes when they would keep the ball and we would not get it back off them.

"We didn't get frustrated but they did. We held our nerve and it was important we did that because they are such a good footballing side on such a big pitch. But the work the midfielders did was incredible.

"It was as good a performance as I've been involved in. Overall we haven't got the goal but as a collective performance, with the whole team putting in a good shift, it is definitely up there with the best of them.

"Once the manager had spoken to us we knew exactly what to do. We stuck to it and that was the key. We trust him and we trust each other. We did the club and the manager proud but we are only halfway there."