Chelsea defender John Terry claims poor refereeing was to blame for his side's defeat by Inter Milan.
Beaten Blues skipper claims Stark showed "pure disrespect"
Chelsea defender John Terry believes poor officiating was to blame for his side's exit from the UEFA Champions League following their defeat to Inter Milan on Tuesday.
The Blues went down 1-0 on the night - and 3-1 on aggregate - thanks to Samuel Eto'o's solitary strike at Stamford Bridge and also saw striker Didier Drogba dismissed late on for stamping on the leg of Thiago Motta.
But Chelsea felt aggrieved after referee Wolfgang Stark turned down two strong penalty appeals - evoking memories of the London club's dramatic exit from the competition last season, where they had similar spot-kick claims rejected in their final four departure to Barcelona.
Terry admitted his team had performed poorly on the night as former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho came away with a famous victory, however he was left fuming by the performance of the match officials.
Bad performance
The 29-year-old said: "It was a bad performance by us but a really bad performance from the referee.
"It is not good enough at this stage of the competition. We were at home and we didn't get one decision.
"We do our best to get ourselves in this position and for two years running we get let down by bad refereeing. We need someone at the club to take it up with Uefa."
Terry expressed his disbelief at how the two penalty claims were dismissed by Stark, although he stopped short of saying there had been a conspiracy against his side.
He added: "I'm not going to say the word conspiracy. But I'm so frustrated by what happened.
"Florent Malouda got fouled inside the box in the first half and the referee waved play on. Didier Drogba gets manhandled and if the referee misses it, we have the linesman."
The matter was made worse for Terry after he revealed his displeasure at the way the official handled his team's grievances, claiming that Stark had rejected attempts by the Chelsea captain to speak to him.
Pure disrespect
Terry insisted he did nothing untoward in his approach to the referee, and willingly risked the wrath of Uefa with his remarks such was his desire to make his feelings known.
He went on: "When a decision didn't go our way I, as captain, went to speak to the German referee and he turned his back on me.
"I wasn't shouting. I went to try to talk to him and when he wouldn't talk that is when I got frustrated.
"That is just pure disrespect. If I get myself in trouble, then so be it. I owe it to our fans to speak out."
