Henk ten Cate has revealed the reason for his training ground bust-up with John Terry: the Chelsea captain wanted to train too hard before the Carling Cup final.

While insisting their relationship is fine, the first team coach admitted he and Terry were involved in a heated argument the day before the Wembley showpiece.

Ten Cate told Dutch newspaper AD: "This is all blown out of proportion. I have no problems with John Terry and he has none with me.

"We are both emotional guys, but we do respect each other fully. On Saturday the distance between me and him was nowhere less than five metres. So that we were with our heads against each other, as they wrote, is total nonsense. The discussion was about the sharpness of the training, as we have more often. That is part of top football.

"At Chelsea we have a group of 27 players and three goalkeepers. Half of them were allowed to go to the final so you understand that things went sharp. John found that we should train even more fanatically, I didn't agree on that with my eyes on the final. We had an argument about that. That is all."

According to reports, the pair were pulled apart by other players at the training ground in Cobham, Surrey. The confrontation was understood to have been seen by Roman Abramovich, the club's billionaire owner.

Eyewitnesses reportedly saw Ten Cate face up to Terry, the England captain, during Saturday's session, and with the pair trading swear words and insults, other players had to step in to defuse the row.