Never in the field of football conflict has so much been achieved by so little attacking enterprise.
Take out the Ramires counter-attack and a supremely melodramatic equaliser by Fernando Torres at the death, and Chelsea knocked out the European champions from their own half.
Call it long-range elimination. Call it whatever you like, because England's last representatives have reached the promised land for the first time since the Manchester United game in Moscow in 2008, when Didier Drogba was sent off in extra-time and Terry wept after missing the decisive penalty.
"I have apologised to the lads and I apologise to the Chelsea fans," Terry said as Chelsea rejoiced.
His offence was to knee Alexis Sánchez in the back on 36 minutes: an aberration he tried to deny at half-time but then said sorry once the smoke had cleared.
"I was trying to protect myself but looking at it on the replay it does look like a red card, so no complaints."
Barcelona are out of the Champions League and the domestic title race.
Their cycle of majesty has reached an end, for now.
The 10 men of Chelsea proved no easier to break down than 11. And for that to happen Roberto Di Matteo's men had to hunt down every sniff and rumour of Barcelona's talent and throw their bodies in its path.
The bill came on the red and yellow cards that removed the captain, right-back, most improved midfielder and Meireles. The injured Gary Cahill could be another doubt.
Chelsea may be renegades – but they are our renegades, assuming you take a nationalistic view of European football and support England's representatives, irrespective of which badge they wear.
Yet many at home chose not to for this sulphurous second-leg, citing the intern-shooting Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba's play-acting and Terry generally as reasons to support the fading Barcelona.
Terry played up to that hostility with an act of mind-numbing stupidity, kneeing Sánchez from behind two minutes after Sergio Busquets had opened the scoring.
With that sneaky attack on an opponent who was bound to exploit the opportunity, Terry forgot where he was, dragging the game back to the English battlegrounds of his youth when it belonged on the most glittering stage in club football.
This is not Hackney Marshes. But nobody told Chelsea's captain, who has spent his whole career selling an image of selfless leadership.
In court on July 9 to face a charge of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, Terry blew his chance to be part of a memorable end to Chelsea's troubled season with a piece of low-grade thuggery that was bound to be spotted and punished.
The rest of these Chelsea players have had to endure a lot of sanctimony down the years from their sergeant-major. They have heard his voice bark out many orders and enforce much unity.
This has made the difference in plenty of big encounters but when it really mattered on a night of opportunity Terry surrendered to his darker impulses.
No doubt a terrible melancholy will seize him when he realises he has lost the chance to atone for the Moscow slip.
Unusually, there were few home fires burning for a side who began to display fighting spirit as soon as Andre Villas-Boas was purged by Abramovich. If Chelsea needed extra friends, they needed to call on Madrid and other parts of Spain not in thrall to Barcelona's beauty.
Within seven minutes of Terry's dismissal Barcelona led by 2-0, via Andres Iniesta. By some brief counter-attacking miracle Ramires then appeared at the other end to seize an away goal.
This was never going to be a quiet night. Within two minutes of the restart Drogba brought down Cesc Fabregas in the box and Messi smashed the penalty against the crossbar.
Ever since Abramovich jumped out of his helicopter Chelsea have been admired but not loved. Terry's sending off will only deepen the sense that power has corrupted some of those to whom the owner has been most loyal.
Yet on the pitch the age of force was swiftly restored by Roberto Di Matteo and paid dividends with the Champions League wins over Napoli, in one of the great Chelsea fightbacks, and Benfica.
Those wins were surpassed by the mass resistance that yielded a 1-0 home win over Messi's gang and this epic comeback from 2-0 down against a side bristling with creative intent.
Within moments you could see the west London wagon-circling operation could not be repeated without intense discomfort for the team hiding inside the ring. For 20 minutes they barely left their half as Barca advanced in 3-1-3-3 formation, with the restoration of Sanchez at centre-forward providing better thrust and shape.
This spring Chelsea were, said Fernando Torres, "starting to enjoy things again, instead of suffering".
Nice timing, hombre. Suffering seemed about all Chelsea could dare to expect as Messi and company poked and prodded the gaps between white kits that must have looked, to the home side, like a London offshoot of Real Madrid.
White shirt means red rag in these parts, and the higher energy and tempo of Barcelona forced Chelsea back on to the old pressure-reliever of long balls to Drogba.
"Many teams who play Barcelona think that you have to steal the ball from them, but I don't think that's possible," Torres said. "You have to use different weapons against them." Nobody could have guessed they would work for 180 minutes.
El Nino might also have conceded that playing three-quarters of the game without the ball is also humiliating. Chelsea are a team of
A-list players, some of them on £150,000-plus a week. To be reduced to the role of spectators – blockers, stoppers – must eat at the spirit. Until you win, of course, and consign the world's greatest player to impotence.
The white wall strengthened itself again and Barcelona were back to passing across the lines, hoping for a crack to appear. Messi, who nobody thought capable of missing from a mere penalty spot, was tangling with Frank Lampard and Petr Cech was booked for time wasting.
Chelsea offered almost nothing to the sum of human enjoyment beyond the Ramires goal, astonishing stubbornness after Terry had departed and a joyous moment for Torres, who was left out for both legs.
Barcelona were left crushed again after Saturday's home defeat to Real Madrid, which ended their domestic title hopes.
Terry watched most of this from the doghouse. For once he could not claim the glory off men who led themselves to a triumph against all odds.
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