England captain John Terry claimed Croatia forward Ivan Klasnic spat at him during his side's 5-1 World Cup qualifying victory at Wembley on Wednesday.
England captain John Terry claimed Croatia forward Ivan Klasnic spat at him during his side's 5-1 World Cup qualifying victory at Wembley on Wednesday.
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Klasnic, who has just joined Bolton on loan from French club Nantes, was on as a substitute for Eduardo when he spat at Terry towards the end of the match as Croatia's frustration boiled over at a humiliating defeat.
"It's not a nice situation," Terry said. "It was the (number) 17. He came on frustrated. He's the first person who has ever spat at me.
"It's one of those things. It's disappointing but lets not let that ruin a massive night for us."
Despite the Klasnic controversy, Terry left Wembley on a high after a win that confirmed England's place at the World Cup.
Fabio Capello's team have won all eight of their qualifiers to clinch their spot at next year's finals in South Africa with two games still to play.
After the bitter blow of missing Euro 2008 when Croatia won at Wembley two years ago, this was a cathartic experience for Terry and company.
It was even sweeter since Croatia coach Slaven Bilic had spent the last week pouring scorn on England's squad.
Right from the first whistle, it was clear England, fired up to prove Bilic wrong, would play with the kind of steely-eyed determination that was so often missing during that failed Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.
Bilic's team were like rabbits caught in the headlights as England tore into them in the first 20 minutes and the game was over as a contest by the time Steven Gerrard headed home soon after Frank Lampard's penalty.
Further goals for Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney completed the five-star display and Terry said: "It was a great performance right from the word go. We said we wanted to start well and we did that.
"After the third goal their heads dropped and it was important then that we kept our mentality and got more goals to boost the confidence."
It would have been easy for Terry to hail England as world-beaters in the aftermath of such a dominant display.
But the centre-half has seen too much failures in the past to get carried away just yet.
Although he is pleased with the way England have progressed under Capello, he knows there is still plenty of room for improvement.
"I don't think it sends a message to the rest of the world. Straight after the game the manager was stressing that there are still improvements to be made," Terry said.
"The most pleasing thing is to see where we have come in two years as a team.
"Sometimes we haven't played well but we have ground out results. That is a sign of how we have improved over the last two years.
"We all realise there are improvements to be made and have another level or two to go to.
"Hopefully by the time the World Cup comes around the manager will know his system, know his players and we will be ready for the tournament."
The key to England's victory was a virtuoso display from Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon, who finally transferred his club form into an international shirt.
Lennon has started the season superbly for Tottenham and he was too hot for Croatia to handle. The former Leeds star won the penalty that allowed Lampard to open the scoring and crossed for Gerrard's first goal.
"Aaron came in and had a massive impact. He set up a couple of goals and worked very hard," Terry said.
"Players like that who haven't been playing on a regular basis have given the manager problems."
Lennon added: "I think I played well. I have started well this season and I've taken that form into the national team.
"Shaun Wright-Phillips and David Beckham can both play in my position so to get the nod was brilliant for me.
"I have been looking at how defenders have been trying to mark me. I'm trying to mix my game up and that is down to experience."
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