Chelsea legend John Terry responds to Arsenal celebrations after Atletico Madrid win

Former Chelsea and England captain John Terry has hit out at Arsenal’s squad for ‘over-celebrating’ their Champions League semi-final win over Atletico Madrid.

With the scoreline level at 1-1 after an absorbing first leg in Madrid, Bukayo Saka scored the decisive goal to send the undefeated Gunners through on a famous night at the Emirates.

It means the north Londoners will be competing in a Champions League final for only the second time in the club’s history later this month, two decades on from the side’s painful defeat to Barcelona under Arsene Wenger in 2006.

Only Paris Saint-Germain, the holders, stand between Arsenal and the prestigious trophy, with Luis Enrique’s men seeing off Bayern Munich in his year’s other heavyweight semi-final.

With Arsenal’s hopes of a historic double still intact, the significance of the moment was not lost on Mikel Arteta and his players – who soaked up the occasion with supporters in jubilant scenes after the full-time whistle on Tuesday evening.

The wild celebrations did not go down with everyone, though, including Wayne Rooney, who suggested Declan Rice and Co had perhaps gone a little over the top with their reaction.

‘They haven’t won it yet, I think the celebrations are a little bit too heavy. Celebrate when you win…but no, they deserve it,’ the ex-Manchester United and England forward said on Prime Video’s coverage of the second leg.

Rooney’s former England team-mate Terry echoed these remarks as he took to TikTok to give his thoughts on the two compelling semi-finals.

Despite his infamous full-kit celebrations after being forced to sit out the 2012 final, the ex-Chelsea skipper insisted Arsenal’s reaction was ‘a little bit too much’.

‘I’ve been looking forward to this game all week, especially after the poor game of football last night [between Arsenal and Atletico Madrid],’ Terry told his followers while watching PSG’s second-leg victory over Bayern.

‘But fair play to Arsenal on making the Champions League final.

‘What a game, what a start to the game this was tonight. How PSG have still got 11 men on the pitch I do not know.

‘How PSG have not given away a penalty I do not know. It stinks of Chelsea versus Barcelona 2009/10 at Stamford Bridge where we should have had four or five penalties at least, but great game of football.

‘By the way, Arsenal way over-celebrated. Far too much for me.

‘Yeah, you’re excited because you make the Champions League final, but over-celebrated a little bit too much for me.’

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Arsene Wenger took a different view, defending how Arteta’s squad had celebrated and describing their reaction to such an important win as ‘absolutely normal’.

‘I think Arsenal wanted wanted it a bit more than Atleti and they were more decisive in the duals,’ Wenger – Arsenal’s manager in the club’s only other appearance in a final – said on beIN SPORTS.

‘We said before the game that to go to the final they needed to be strong defensively and they didn’t concede a goal tonight.

‘They played a team who for 45 minutes absolutely needed to score a goal and they didn’t give them a chance.

‘I believe it shows how strong Arsenal are defensively and how disciplined they are, as well a bit the limitations of Atletico, who were not good enough in the final third.

‘In the end it’s a well-deserved win for Arsenal, there’s no doubt they were the better team over the two legs.

‘They celebrate well tonight which is normal but you want to focus already on the final and the next games.

‘The celebration is deserved and happiness is normal – absolutely normal – but the next step is to go to the final and win in.’

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