‘I slept for almost two days straight – Arsenal’s physio basically saved my life’ John Terry on the brutal head kick he received from Abou Diaby in the 2007 League Cup Final

John Terry was very much the kind of defender who was never afraid to put his body on the line.

Across more than 800 appearances for club and country in a career which saw him ranked at no.4 in FourFourTwo’s list of the 20 best Premier League defenders of all-time, Terry’s bravery shone through time after time and he was fortunate enough to suffer very few lengthy injuries.

But perhaps one of Terry’s scariest moments came in the 2007 League Cup final, when his head collided with Abou Diaby’s boot on the hour mark of Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Arsenal.

Terry on his scary 2007 League Cup final injury

It quickly became clear Terry was in serious trouble and he was replaced by Jon Obi Mikel, who was later sent off in stoppage time alongside Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure in a bad-tempered climax – one that Terry himself does not recall.

“That wasn’t my best moment!,” Terry recalls to FourFourTwo. “I remember the corner and the ball dropping a few yards from goal. My eyes lit up because I thought I was about to score.

Terry clashed with Abou Diaby in the incident “I got kicked and was immediately knocked unconscious. I was lucky that Arsenal’s physio, Gary Lewin, happened to be walking around the pitch, a short distance away. He knew me well from England.

“He came flying onto the pitch, took my tongue out of my windpipe and basically saved my life. Without his quick response, it might have been different.

The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.

“On the way to the hospital, in full kit in the back of an ambulance, I had no idea where I was. I had to have a brain scan, but then I ignored medical advice and checked myself straight out because we’d won the game and I wanted to celebrate with my team-mates.

“They reluctantly let me go – but, whenever that happens, they refuse to arrange travel. So I wandered out, still in my kit, to a taxi rank in Cardiff and asked for a lift back to the stadium.

Chelsea would also win the FA Cup in 2007 “God knows what the cabbie made of it. I was still quite dizzy, but I went out that night and had a mad one, celebrating with everyone. Then I went home and, I kid you not, slept for almost two days straight.

“The Chelsea doctor came to visit me a couple of times but otherwise I just slept. It wasn’t a smart move, I admit, but it was a crazy day.”