Rio Ferdinand and John Terry in Twitter war after controversial ‘top 5’ pick

'You're lucky I even put you in the top 5 after the racism case'...

Rio Ferdinand has called out John Terry after the former Chelsea captain embarrassed himself on Instagram with a petty response to one of the former's takes on BT Sport. Speaking to Virgil Van Dijk ahead of the Champions League final on BT Sport, Ferdinand was choosing his top five centre-backs in Premier League history. After putting himself top and his long-term defensive partner Nemanja Vidic in second, Ferdinand then opted to put Van Dijk in third, ahead of Jaap Stam, with Terry in fifth.

"I believe I was number one. Serious," said Ferdinand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w29dUyjaxQk

Terry fires back at Ferdinand

Despite receiving praise for his ability, passion and longevity, former England captain Terry wasn't impressed with his placement in Ferdinand's rankings. The 41-year-old posted a number of graphics to his Instagram story - including the number of times he made the World XI and his win percentage being higher than any other defender - as he defended his position. Terry accompanied his response with the caption: "Opinions are great but stats don’t lie…" https://twitter.com/CFCDaily/status/1529427839312973826 After seeing the social media post, the ex-United man couldn't resist responding, calling Terry out on Twitter for having a fragile ego, and mentioning the court case between Terry and Rio's brother Anton Ferdinand after Terry was accused of racism in 2011. Terry was cleared of the charge in a court of law. https://twitter.com/rioferdy5/status/1529960221870784512 "The moment one has to start pushing their own records and stats it's really time to start addressing the fragile ego," Ferdinand wrote. "Your (sic) lucky I even put you in the top 5 after the racism case with my brother so be thankful you made it." https://twitter.com/FootballJOE/status/1529963208454418433 Just a few minutes later, Terry than bit back, addressing Ferdinand's accusation of having a fragile ego but ignoring the other part. "A fragile ego is putting yourself at Number 1. Thanks for putting me in your top 5," Terry responded. https://twitter.com/JohnTerry26/status/1529963647254028290