Given Bridge is annoyed enough about Terry’s alleged relationship with the mother of his young son to pull out of the England team, it was no surprise the defender refused to shake his former team-mate’s hand.

Aside from one confrontation with Carlos Tevez, Terry kept out of trouble on the field.

But once the dust had begun to settle on the match, Bellamy weighed in.

“I know what JT is like,” he told Sky Sports. “Nothing surprises me about it. I think everybody in football knows what the guy is like, but that’s off the field.

“On it he’s an outstanding player. He’s a great captain for Chelsea.”

City boss Roberto Mancini expressed the hope that all parties could now move on and concentrate on football.

“I do not want to speak about this situation,” he said. “I hope Wayne Bridge can play for the national team. I am sorry for the situation because every player wants to play for his country. But it is his decision.

“Now it is finished. It is important just to speak about football. I am happy for Wayne Bridge. It was a good performance from the team and he played well.”

A minor injury meant Bridge could not complete the full 90 minutes but it allowed him to acknowledge the support he received from the City fans, whose behaviour contrasted sharply with the booing of their Chelsea counterparts every time Bridge had the ball.

By the end, those same fans had far more to occupy their minds after Chelsea had surrendered their unbeaten home record and suffered their biggest defeat at Stamford Bridge since 2002, and ended the game with only nine men following the dismissals of Juliano Belletti and Michael Ballack.

“It was not a good day,” said manager Carlo Ancelotti. “The only good thing from today is that we still have one point more than Manchester United.

“We have more chance to win the title than either them or Arsenal because that is what the table says.”

Ancelotti blamed the astounding reverse on his team losing their shape.

He refused to condemn stand-in keeper Henrique Hilario, even though he seemed clearly at fault for City’s opening two goals, and Terry was absolved of blame completely.

“The players were not distracted,” Ancelotti added. “The Manchester City players were not distracted. We made mistakes but John Terry did not make any.

“This thing has not affected his form. There is no reason to take him out of the team. There is no way. He is our captain.”

The omens did not look good for City when Frank Lampard put Chelsea in front late in the first half.

But Hilario’s failure to keep out a scuffed Tevez shot before half-time changed the course of the entire contest.

Bellamy grabbed his first immediately after the interval and when Belletti was sent off for chopping down Gareth Barry, Tevez, 24 hours after stepping off a plane from Argentina, rammed home a third from the penalty spot.

Once Ballack had gone for a second yellow card that could easily have been a straight red given his challenge on Tevez, there were holes everywhere for City to exploit.

Bellamy tapped home Shaun Wright-Phillips’ cross and although Lampard managed a late penalty, the title race had been blasted back open and City were once again in the top four.

“Maybe I will send Carlos back to Argentina for another two weeks then pick him the day he after he comes back,” Mancini joked.

“Football is strange. This result could change our season. We are playing for fourth position. That is our target, along with Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa.”