John Terry has defended Chelsea's conduct during their Champions League elimination on Wednesday after Paris Saint-Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic described the Blues as "babies."
Jose Mourinho's players were criticised after nine of them, including Terry, surrounded Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers before he sent Ibrahimovic off for a foul on Oscar after 31 minutes of the round-of-16 second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Despite playing with 10 men for an hour-and-a-half including extra-time, PSG prevailed on away goals in an ill-tempered affair.
"Once they're charging the ref, the only thing we can do is respond," Terry told reporters. "You can't as a group of players let them surround the ref, trying to get our players booked.
"For me if I have to run 20, 30 yards, it doesn't look great, but when you're standing back and seeing five or six of their players surrounding the ref, for me I think I support my teammates.
"And once I go, four or five go with me. It doesn't look good at all, but that's part of the game. We'll match it if people want to mix it, that's part of our game as well.
"You have to stick up for your teammates. Every other side is as bad as each other. It's part of the game."
It is a part of the game many would wish to do without and, while Chelsea may have refused to be cowed by a team labelled by Mourinho as the "most aggressive" they had played this season, they deserved to bow out on away goals.
PSG twice came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw and advance to the quarterfinals on away goals after a 3-3 aggregate score, leaving Chelsea to concentrate on the Premier League.
The Blues are five points clear of second-placed Manchester City ahead of Sunday's clash with Southampton and have a game in hand on the defending champions.
Chelsea have seen an eight-point lead established and cancelled out this season before opening up an advantage again.
It will be a test of Mourinho's mettle and man-management to ensure that the Londoners win their first championship in five years.
Should they be caught and miss out, only owner Roman Abramovich will know what the future would hold for Mourinho.
"We have to pick ourselves up and go again at the weekend now," Terry said. "There's enough experience in the squad to rally round and get everyone going again.
"We've got the Capital One Cup in the pocket and the Premier League is a massive one to go for. The manager said that if we can win the Capital One Cup and the Premier League, it will be a very successful year.
"There is an awful lot to do, but it's in our hands and we have to respond. We're a few points clear and we need to keep that gap and maintain it.
"We can only do that by responding and doing that the right way and coming back here and picking up three points. We've got another big game against a very good Southampton side.
"Southampton will come here playing on the front foot and, if we're not at it, we'll drop points and slip away in the Premier League."
Chelsea, Champions League winners in 2012 and semifinalists last season, have often carried English interest in the Champions League.
Now there will be no Premier League representation in the last eight of Europe's elite competition unless Manchester City or Arsenal, who play Barcelona and Monaco next week respectively, can overturn first-leg deficits.
Terry added: "We've had our fair share of maintaining interest for English sides in the competition over the years. It's different for us -- we're normally in the hat for the next round.
"We're obviously really disappointed. We regroup and go again in this competition next season."