Rio Ferdinand and John Terry in Twitter spat over all-time centre-backs ranking

Rio Ferdinand became embroiled in a social media spat with John Terry on Thursday night after placing the former Chelsea captain fifth on his all-time list of the greatest Premier League centre-backs.

Terry, who helped to inspire Chelsea to five Premier League titles, responded with an Instagram post that listed some of his career highlights and most impressive statistics alongside the words “stats don’t lie”.

Ferdinand retaliated by saying that Terry was “lucky” to make the list following the accusation that he racially abused his brother Anton Ferdinand.

“The moment one has to start pushing their own records and stats it's really time to start addressing the fragile ego,” wrote Ferdinand. “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, who has always denied racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, fired back: “A fragile Ego is putting yourself at Number 1. Thanks for putting me in your top 5.” 

Ferdinand, who is a BT Sport pundit, had been discussing the topic with Virgil van Dijk and had placed the current Liverpool centre-back in his top five alongside himself at No 1, Nemanja Vidic, Jaap Stam and Terry.

In response, Terry had posted a number of graphics, which included the number of times he made the World XI, captains with the most Premier League titles and how his win percentage was higher than any other defender. “Opinions are great but stats don't lie,” he wrote.

A fragile Ego is putting yourself at Number 1 @rioferdy5

Thanks for putting me in your top 5