Terry keen to play despite fracturing two ribs

London: Chelsea captain John Terry has vowed to play on through the club's vital run of April fixtures despite suffering two broken ribs. The Blues are in the midst of a run of eight games in 26 days, including a two-legged Champions League semi-final against Barcelona and an FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham.

Scans on Thursday revealed that the centreback suffered the injury during the club's Champions League quarter-final first-leg victory over Benfica nine days ago.

But, despite Terry giving himself the green light, with crucial games against Tottenham, Arsenal and Barcelona coming within the next three weeks, manager Roberto Di Matteo will have to pick and choose the defender's inclusion carefully.

Terry played a full 90 minutes in Chelsea’s victory against Aston Villa on Saturday but could only manage an hour in the return leg against Benfica, having to be replaced by Gary Cahill after he was struggling to breathe.

"I got an elbow in the ribs about 20 minutes into the away leg and the doctors feared I'd fractured two of them," Terry told reporters. "I couldn't breathe and my chest was closing up. I was having a difficult time out there, especially in the first half. I thought it was OK but, later in the second half [on Wednesday] it just seemed to be getting worse and I was struggling to breathe. It was difficult. I have never felt anything like that before."

The club will be desperate to get their captain back to full fitness as last time he spent time an extended period of time on the sidelines, Chelsea won just two of the eight games they played in his absence.

The captain will likely skip the visit of Wigan on Saturday, but he has his own ideas.

"I don't think it will mean I'm out at all," insisted Terry. "It's just a case of managing it, and things like that. I know there are ways around it. With the ribs you can't really do anything: you can't treat the injury or massage it to make it better. You just have to let it heal, but I can get through games, definitely. The guys have got a few ideas to get me through them."