.png)
Rio Ferdinand got into a heated Twitter war with John Terry over his greatest centre-backs of the Premier League era claim.
The Manchester United legend named himself as the greatest centre-back in Premier League history ahead of the Chelsea icon, who was ranked fifth on his list.
Speaking to Virgil van Dijk, he said: "I believe I was number one. Serious. I'm going number one straight away."
On Terry, he added: "In terms of his longevity at that club, what they won, body on the line, a much better footballer than people give him credit for, could play off his left and right foot."
Advert
But Terry took offence and made his feelings known via a social media post, highlighting his career achievements.
The image included a number of graphics showing statistics; from the number of times he made the World XI, captains with the most Premier League titles to his win percentage being higher than any other defender.
It was accompanied with the message: "Opinions are great but stats don't lie..."
Ferdinand hit back on Twitter and said Terry was 'lucky' to be selected considering the racism case with his younger brother, Anton.
He tweeted: "The moment one has to start pushing their own records and stats it’s really time to start addressing the fragile ego.
"Your lucky I even put you in the top 5 after the racism case with my brother so be thankful you made it."
Terry swiftly replied, tweeting: "A fragile Ego is putting yourself at Number 1. Thanks for putting me in your top 5."
Ferdinand also named Nemanja Vidic, Van Dijk and Jaap Stam in his list of greatest Premier League centre-backs.
As for Van Dijk, he opted for Ferdinand as No.1 while picking Vincent Kompany, Stam, Terry and Sami Hyypia.
Topics: John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Football, Chelsea, Manchester United
Nasir Jabbar