John Terry and Rio Ferdinand open old wounds in Twitter feud as Man United icon claims Chelsea legend has a 'fragile ego' and says he was 'lucky' to make his top five Premier League centre backs

• Rio Ferdinand placed John Terry as the fifth best Premier League centre-back 
• He put himself, Nemanja Vidic, Virgil van Dijk and Jaap Stam ahead of Terry 
• Terry has fired back with a graphic which collates a number of statistics
• He then wrote that 'stats don't lie' at the bottom of his Instagram story
• This led to the pair getting involved in a war of words late int the evening 

Rio Ferdinand and John Terry were engaged in a war of words on social media on Thursday night after the Manchester United icon named the Chelsea fifth on his list of the best centre-backs in Premier League history.

BT Sport pundit Ferdinand, discussing the topic with Virgil van Dijk, placed the Liverpool star, himself, Nemanja Vidic and Jaap Stam ahead of Terry.

Chelsea legend, Terry, took offence and fired back on Thursday with a post on his Instagram story showing his impressive statistics during his career, stating that 'stats don't lie'.

This led to the war of words on Twitter later in the evening, with Ferdinand stating that Terry was 'lucky' to make the list following the racism case involving his brother Anton. 

Old wounds were opened up as the pair have history, after Terry was accused of using racist language towards Ferdinand's younger brother during a game between Chelsea and QPR back in 2011.  

Ferdinand in response to Terry's Instagram story wrote: '@JohnTerry26 The moment one has to start pushing their own records and stats it's really time to start addressing the fragile ego. 

'You're lucky I even put you in the top 5 after the racism case with my brother so be thankful you made it.'

Terry fired back: 'A fragile Ego is putting yourself at Number 1. Thanks for putting me in your top 5.' 

Earlier in the day, Terry let it be known he wasn't impressed after being ranked fifth by Ferdinand in the Premier League's all-time best centre-back list, firing back in a post on his Instagram story. 

The 41-year-old posted a number of graphics showing statistics - including the number of times he made the World XI, captains with the most Premier League titles and his win percentage being higher than any other defender.

Terry accompanied the graphic with the caption: 'Opinions are great but stats don't lie.'

The Chelsea legend was placed under police investigation back in November 2011 following the allegation of racial abuse against then QPR defender Ferdinand. 

Video footage which circulated on the internet led to accusations that Terry calling Ferdinand a 'f***ing black c***'.

In response to the video footage, Terry claimed that he was actually asking Ferdinand: 'Oi, Anton, do you think I called you a black c***?'

Terry received a four-game ban and a £220,000 fine from the Football Association, however he was cleared in court after being charged over the incident, and has always denied abusing Ferdinand.

A 2020 BBC documentary 'Football, Racism and Me' looked back at the incident and it was said during the programme that Terry chose not to speak to Anton Ferdinand or take part in the show.

Terry claimed that this was untrue and insisted there have been multiple occasions over the years when he has made efforts to contact both Anton and Rio, who described Terry as 'an idiot' in his autobiography released in 2014.

Terry, told the Times: 'It's disappointing to read and hear that I've never reached out.

'I tried to phone Rio and Anton on numerous occasions, literally the same night [as the game], the day after, and that week after the incident.

'Then about three, four years ago, I see Rio on the beach in Dubai, so I approached him and said, 'Have you got five minutes? I'd like to talk to you'. He was like, 'I don't want to talk to you, JT'.  

Liverpool star Van Dijk placed Terry as fourth in his own all-time rankings.

He omitted himself and placed Ferdinand top, following the former United defender with Vincent Kompany, Stam, Terry and ex-Liverpool captain Sami Hyypia.

Ferdinand though did heap praise on Terry while chatting to Van Dijk.

He said in regards to Terry: '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.'

After putting Van Dijk in third, the Dutchman disagreed by saying: 'I've only won one Premier League.'

However, Ferdinand responded: 'Yeah I know but I think the impact you have on the team is massive and your attributes will put you right in the top tier.'

Terry is regarded as one of the best Premier League defenders, winning the title on five occasions.