Terry banned for Champions League final after reckless red card... with Ivanovic, Ramires and Meireles also suspended!

John Terry is one of FOUR Chelsea players banned for the Champions League final after their epic victory over Barcelona.

The Blues skipper was dismissed in the first half at the Nou Camp for an off-the-ball knee in the back of Alexis Sanchez. That means he will miss the next three European matches - but that is only the start of the problems for Chelsea.

Ramires, Branislav Ivanovic and Raul Meireles all picked up bookings in the 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp that sealed their 3-2 aggregate triumph. They will all be suspended alongside Terry for next month's final in Munich.

Terry later told Sky Sports that he should not have been sent off. When told that he appeared to knee Sanchez, Terry replied: 'I would not do that.'

When he was later interviewed in front of the cameras, he admitted his guilt saying: 'Sanchez was darting in behind me. I've seen the replay and it does look bad.

'I'm not that type of player to intentionally hurt anyone. I've raised my knee, which I maybe shouldn't have done in hindsight. But hopefully people who know me as a person, as a player... I'm not that type of player.

'I'm disappointed but delighted for the lads. To come here and play the way they did and get the result they did with 10 men... I feel I've let them down. I've apologised to them and I want to apologise to the fans as well.

'At the time, I was bewildered because I was trying to protect myself a little bit, but looking at it on the replay, I've no complaints. I've let the lads down. They've performed brilliantly, so hopefully this doesn't take it away from the players.

This is what this football club deserves. We deserve to be in the Champions League final. The boys were excellent and I hope the incident doesn't take away from how hard they worked.'

Terry's exit came switfly after his centre-back partner Gary Cahill went off injured.

With David Luiz also currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, boss Roberto Di Matteo faces a number of problems when they take on the winners of Wednesday's clash between Real Madri and Bayern Munich.