The court in the John Terry racism trial has heard that the QPR v Chelsea game from which the allegations arose was 'a typical London derby'.

In a statement made to FA investigators, recorded five days after the match last October and played to court, Mr Terry said that the game came complete with 'verbals' and a post-match confrontation in the tunnel.

Mr Terry did not deny using the words 'f---ing black c---', but said there has been a misunderstanding of the context in which they were said.

He said an altercation with QPR defender Anton Ferdinand resulted in Mr Ferdinand repeating allegations about a relationship between Mr Terry and former team-mate Wayne Bridge's ex-partner.

After that Mr Terry says he heard a claim of racial abuse from Mr Ferdinand.

He said: “I just heard him sort of call me a 'black c---'. Now I don't at any point think he calling me a black c---.”

At this point, Mr Terry said that he repeated the phrase because 'if someone said to me you're an ugly c---, I'd repeat 'an ugly c---, look at yourself'.'

He said: “You know, I just repeated what I think he said to me, and that's as far as it goes.”

In explanation of the phrase, Mr Terry said it was said, and meant, as: “A f---ing black c---? F---ing knobhead.”

After the game, Mr Terry said there had been a confrontation in the tunnel with QPR player Fitz Hall – unrelated to these allegations.

The court also heard from investigating officer DC David Doherty of Fulham police. Dc Doherty confirmed that the initial complaint of an offence had been made by an unnamed off-duty police officer watching the match on television, two days after the game finished.

Mr Terry sat in the dock throughout proceedings, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and black tie. He took frequent notes.

Earlier in the morning, the court had been shown footage of the final 12 minutes, plus injury time, of the Premier League game at Loftus Road – which QPR won 1-0, and was viewed by up to 2.3m people on Sky Sports.

Just before the court broke for lunch, the defence made an application to the effect that there was no case to answer. The prosecution will respond after lunch.

Mr Terry, of Oxshott in Surrey, denies a racially aggravated public order offence. The case continues.