Benitez explains decision to leave John Terry on the bench for Man City loss

By Paul Lagan, at the Etihad Stadium Sunday, February 24, 2013
4:48 PM

Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benitez does like to rotate his players and left club skipper John Terry to stew on the bench this afternoon.

The plan backfired and the Blues head back to London with a 2-0 defeat.

“We changed players like I did against Sparta Prague,” he said.

“We still have energy in the side. If they are tired we will see in the next coupe of weeks.

Terry was not brought on during the game and Benitez insisted that it was squad management.

He explained: “We are playing too many games, so I managed the squad, so I played them.

“Moses and Oscar are offensive players, so they came on for Lampard and Hazard.”