Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho slams state of Rostov pitch, saying it’s not worthy of being called a ‘field’
Special One raises concerns regarding the Olimp-2 Stadium surface, hours after Russian side's boss deemed it a 'problem'
Sponsored by
MANCHESTER UNITED boss Jose Mourinho has slammed the state of Rostov's pitch, saying it's not even worthy of being called a "field".
The Special One made the claim during his pre-match press conference, just hours after the Russian club's chief dubbed the surface a "problem".
Mourinho said: "It is hard for me to believe that we are going to play on that field, if you can call it a field.
Keep up to date with ALL the Manchester United news, gossip, transfers and goals on our club page plus fixtures, results and live match commentary.
"I don’t know which team to play, don’t know if Henrikh Mkhitaryan is going to play. I was expecting something more playable.
"It's a very similar pitch to the one in Beijing [United refused to play on in pre-season].
"I told one gentleman from Uefa of my concerns. He just told me the players are insured, so what happens to them is no problem.
"I was analysing this very good opponent that we didn’t speak about yet, and in their previous matches against Bayern, Ajax, Atletico Madrid, in all these matches it looked for me a very playable pitch.
"I was very surprised with what I found here today.
Daley Blind also had his say on the pitch, urging his United team-mates to concentrate and not use the pitch as an excuse.
He added: "To be honest the pitch is not the best. But we cannot use that as a excuse.
"The pitch is not good maybe for safety as well, but you have to gather your mind and be fully concentrated on the game."
Meanwhile, regarding Zlatan Ibrahimovic's domestic ban for elbowing Tyrone Mings, Mourinho added: "No reaction, he plays tomorrow. I don’t comment about the domestic decision."
