Relief paramount emotion following Terry's head injury

The home of Welsh rugby, hardly lacking for emotion these last few years, was full to overflowing once again yesterday as the Carling Cup final's seismic events - John Terry's injury and the mass brawl at the end - provoked reactions right across the spectrum from fans and players alike.

Most importantly of all, it was relief that was paramount as the Chelsea captain, felled by the flying boot of Abou Diaby that landed with the impact of an upper-cut, was spotted walking purposefully back into the dressing room an hour after the match after receiving urgent hospital treatment.

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Still in his kit, and looking pale and drawn, the Chelsea captain was nevertheless able to respond briefly to the question of whether he was alright. "Not bad,'' said Mr Indestructible before ascending the stairs to rejoin his victorious colleagues.

Once Terry got there, according to Jon Obi Mikel, he was greeted with cheering and hugs, although one hopes that the welcome was not too hearty for a man who only an hour earlier had been knocked unconsciousness and who, upon waking, had been unable to recall the match or the score at the point where he had to leave on a back-boarded stretcher.

Mikel, involved in the injury-time incident with Kolo Touré which provoked an ever-growing mêlée which ultimately drew in both managers from their seats as interested spectators, said that the Arsenal captain had "attacked'' him.

"I pulled him back and he attacked me but why he did that I don't know. They already had given him a free kick.'' Asked if he recalled being punched or kicked, he responded: "I can't really remember what happened but I believe that he attacked me.''

During the incident which followed, Chelsea full-back Wayne Bridge appeared to be floored by Emmanuel Eboué, but when peace finally descended it was Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor who was ordered off along with the two original protagonists - a decision which provoked outrage within the breast of the Togo international. "The referee said I had hit someone in the face but I don't remember hitting anyone. I tried to tell him that I came not to fight but to try and break things down. Kolo is like my big brother and I wanted to stop him. I don't really know what happened. But I am a big guy and I knew I could break everything down and that's what I tried to do.''

Terry's injury sent tremors of fear through his colleagues, bringing back traumatic memories of this season's earlier match against Reading where goalkeeper Petr Cech was taken to hospital with a fractured skull after a goalmouth collision.

Cech admitted that the immediate reaction of both sets of players after Terry had been left prone in the six-yard area indicated how potentially serious the incident was. "By their reaction, I knew it was not going to be easy," he said. "For three or four minutes after JT was injured I had all the emotions.

"We have had so much bad luck with injuries this season. It has been one after another, and I hope that this is the last one."

Mikel also spoke of the moments after Terry's fall: "I was right there by the goal and I was scared as much as everyone else when I saw him. I am so happy that he's back. He's a strong guy.''

Mikel made his exit clutching a bottle of champagne and carrying within him his own cocktail of emotions after what is his first major medal in British football.

While the authorities have a complex job determining the justice of the late flurry of red and yellow cards, the Chelsea faithful will not care too much after seeing Jose Mourinho maintain his unbeaten personal record against his Arsenal counterpart, Arsène Wenger.

What may diminish some of the habitual ill-feeling between these two clubs is the way that the Arsenal spectators rose with their blue-shirted counterparts to offer applause as Terry was carried off the field on a stretcher. It was a rare moment of honourable behaviour in a maelstrom of a match.