Why did it have to be JT? Skipper haunted by The Miss of Misses

That was the way it was meant to be after a bleary-eyed Terry surfaced in his suite at the Ritz Hotel, just off Moscow's Red Square yesterday morning. Instead, he was haunted by The Miss of Misses.

Feeling the pain: Terry can hardly bear to look

Steven Gerrard had beaten him to it in 2005, waking up next to the trophy the day after Liverpool's memorable comeback in Istanbul. "Morning gorgeous," he whispered as he rolled over and kissed The Cup of Cups.

No wonder Gerrard's stunning wife Alex had something to say about it, but surely nothing beats the feeling of lifting the European Cup.

Terry was choking as he walked off the field at the Luzhniki Stadium and who wouldn't be? A penalty kick away from becoming a European Cup-winning captain.

Has that sunk in? A European Cup-winning captain. Sir Bobby Charlton, Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer and Paolo Maldini - the list of legends goes on. Terry can name them all, familiarising himself with the rollcall on the way to the Luzhniki Stadium on Wednesday in the same way as he has a bizarre habit of counting the number of lamp posts on the way to training each day.

This is the man, remember, who ticks off career ambitions in big boxes at his even bigger house in Surrey. Barclays Premier League? Tick, tick. Carling Cup? Tick, tick. FA Cup? Tick. Champions League? Ouch. Try again.

He will try. And try again if necessary. This is the man who has carried the team through three different managers, taking them across the finishing line under Jose Mourinho and lifting five major trophies in three seasons.

Now the team will carry him in the short term. He will be rebuilt, in much the same way as he is when the club doctor, Bryan English, patches him up and administers a pain-killing injection to numb the pain of his latest war wound.

He spoke to Ted, his father, on the bus back to the Ritz on Wednesday night. 'They've cancelled the party because of me,' he told him, tears streaming down his cheeks and telling his father that he was unable to cope with seeing him.

Instead, he went to his hotel room with his wife, Toni. She knew this was the one he wanted, the moment when the Chelsea captain would corner his own bit of history. He does not quite know how he slipped on the rain-soaked turf.

All he can remember is walking to the penalty spot, padding down the turf where he would place his left foot and concentrating on the moment he would hammer the ball beyond Edwin van der Sar.

Then the real celebrations would begin. Boom! Terry would have been leading the charge, saluting the supporters and sharing turns to kiss the Cup with Frank Lampard and Joe Cole.

"It was in our grasp and then John slips,' said Lampard. 'Take nothing away from him because he had the balls to step up and take it. Not many centre halves would take the last penalty. I would have put my house on John. He is a character and taking penalties in those situations needs character.

"He is Mr Chelsea and I'd like to see someone care like he does. I went through it at the World Cup and I know how much it hurts."

No-one at Chelsea's blames Terry for the miss that cost them the chance to settle some scores and finally lift the European Cup. Then there were the endless texts when he turned his mobile phone on. "You're still ledge (legend)," was one of the first. That was from his agent, Aaron Lincoln, another of football's good guys.

Naturally, the Chelsea captain felt he had let down his team-mates. So much has happened at Chelsea this season and they still reached the European Cup final, finally beating Liverpool along the way and matching Manchester United over 120 spell-binding minutes in Moscow.

The road to Rome and next season's Champions League final begins on September 16. Terry has already bought a ticket to ride.