Former Chelsea full back Dan Petrescu admitted on Monday to having had several fights with club captain John Terry during his time there.

“We fought several times,” the 44-year-old Romanian told sportbox.ru. “It’s normal. After that we didn’t have any problems and we still get on well and don’t fight.”

Petrescu, now coach of Russian Premier League club FC Kuban, recalled Terry as a young player eager to make his mark in an experienced squad.

“Back then, John had just joined the first team and wanted to prove himself straight away. Like young guys are, he was passionate, and sometimes this ended in arguments. John saw that I was a strong player, and he wanted to show he was stronger.”

He added: “I knew he’d be a good player, but I didn’t think he’d be as good as he is.”

Terry made his debut for Chelsea in a 1998 League Cup tie as a substitute for Petrescu, who stormed off the pitch in anger and refused to shake Terry’s hand. Terry told Chelsea TV in 2008 that Petrescu had “kicked [him] up the backside” in his first training session with the first team.

Petrescu, who made 95 appearances for the Romanian national team, joined Chelsea in 1995 and won the F.A. Cup, League Cup and Cup Winners' Cup in five years at Stamford Bridge.

His current team Kuban are defying their meager budget, hovering in eighth place in the Russian Premier League.

“I really want to take Kuban into European competitions,” he said, but admitted this was unlikely to happen this season.

He added that his players were “already champions” for him because they were competing with famous names like CSKA Moscow, Zenit St. Petersburg and Anzhi Makhachkala despite being promoted from the second tier last season.