As Manchester United face Rostov on a surface slammed by Jose Mourinho, a guide to some of the worst pitches ever played on

MANCHESTER UNITED will battle Rostov tonight on a pitch that Jose Mourinho does not believe is worthy of being called a 'field'.

The Special One has complained to Uefa about the state of the Olimp-2 surface amid concerns for his stars' safety.

SunSport's football team take you through the worst surfaces they have seen in their hundreds of games on the road...

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By Martin Lipton

Tromso 3 Chelsea 2, Cup Winners Cup - October 23, 1997

Gianluca Vialli had to slalom his way through the snow to score. It was a wipe-out.

Ruud Gullit looked under tarpaulin the day before and said "It looks like cow s***".

During game he kicked a big heap of snow - not realising it was actually a massive rock - and needed surgery on ankle ligament damage as a result!

By Graeme Bryce

East End Park, Dunfermline Athletic - 2003-2005

Dunfermline Athletic received a £130,000 grant in 2003 to invest in a ‘state-of-the-art,’ artificial pitch as part of a UEFA experiment.

But I suspect the groundsman used it to buy Ikea’s entire stock of doormats – and a Pritt Stick!

I played in the first game on the new surface, which literally came apart at the seams during the warm-up.

The ground-staff were supposed to brush the pitch regularly to coax a resin up to the surface which ‘knitted’ the pitch together – but hadn’t done enough sweeping and huge strips of turf kept rolling up and moving around!

Every visiting team moaned about it throughout UEFA’s two year trial period before the SPL mercifully ordered the Pars to rip it up and start again!

By Mark Irwin

Portsmouth 0 Leicester 2 - November 2, 2002

Fratton Park was unplayable following a biblical downpour yet the match was allowed to continue despite parts of the pitch being covered by almost nine inches of water.

Never mind playing in the channels, Harry Redknapp’s promotion chasers needed flippers when they were attacking the deep end.

By Phil Cadden

Andorra 1 Wales 2, Euro 2016 qualifier - September 9, 2014

Chris Coleman blasted Andorra's controversial 3G surface as 'not up to the standard of a Uefa qualifier' after Gareth Bale spared Wales' blushes with a brace to secure victory against a side then ranked 199th in the world.

The newly-laid artificial pitch at the Estadi Nacional in Andorra la Vella was only passed fit by European football's governing body a week before the opening Euro 2016 Group B clash.

Previous inspections showed that the ball ran too fast on it.

While the pitch constantly threw up rubber crumbs from its base when the ball was rolled along the surface.

Coleman said: "When we trained on it, my heart sunk. The pitch is not up to the standard of a Uefa qualifier. If you’re a passing team forget it.”

By Martin Blackburn

CSKA Moscow 1 Manchester City 2 - October 21, 2013

Manuel Pellegrini called the pitch at the Khimki Arena 'unbelievable' in the build up to the Champions League game due to the huge bare patches.

The Russian club took drastic action by asking groundsmen to PAINT the pitch green.

I thought that was something that only happened in Mr Men books. It didn't fool anyone.

By Dan King

Nuneaton Borough 1 Middlesbrough 1, FA Cup - January 7, 2006

There have been a few but one that sticks out as a "great leveller" was the turf at Nuneaton Borough for a third round FA Cup tie against Premier League Middlesbrough.

A visiting team featuring current England boss Gareth Southgate and talents like Gaizka Mendieta struggled to assert its superiority and the Conference North side came from a goal down to force a replay.

By Mike McGrath

Chelsea 4 Charlton 1, Premier League - January 11, 2003

Players have often been accused of being on the beach mid-season - and Chelsea played on a sandy mess back in 2003.

The current Premier League leaders were preparing to relay the turf at their Stamford Bridge home. Charlton were fuming - and complained to the league - that they were not warned about the state of the surface before losing there.

By Paul Jiggins

QPR, Luton, Oldham, Preston matches - 1980s

Take your pick from any of QPR, Luton, Oldham or Preston's dreadful plastic efforts.

Football should be played on grass not a farce.

By Phil Thomas

Oldham home matches, Boundary Park - 1986

Oldham's pitch after they had just laid the plastic down.

The ball was bouncing so high it was almost out of sight.

By Charlie Wyett

England 1 Italy 2, World Cup - June 14, 2014

Pitch for England's World Cup opener vs Italy in Manaus was terrible.

The groundsman painted dry patches green.

By Dave Kidd

Oldham and QPR home matches - 1990s

The artificial pitches of the 1990s we worse than any mudheaps because the bounce of the ball used to change the nature of the game.

I saw matches at Oldham's Boundary Park and QPR's Loftus Road which were totally ruined by the home team's ability to judge the surface and the visiting team's inability to do the same.

By David Facey

Blackpool 0 Hull 0, Premier League - January 1, 2013

Blackpool is known for its beaches, but Steve Bruce went berserk over the Bloomfield Road mudheap, which was at its worst when his Hull team drew 0-0 with the Tangerines on New Year’s Day four years ago.

Bruce had a point. Despite the millions they earned from their memorable 2011-12 Premier League campaign, my local club’s owners have always seemed reluctant to spend money in improving the playing surface.

It tends to cut up right from the kick off in wet conditions, and it was a disgrace on that day against Hull. Bruce described it as a 'quagmire', and Blackpool boss Michael Appleton conceded: “The best signing I could get this month is a new pitch.”

By Neil Custis

Beijing Olympic Stadium - 2016

Dreadful surface with relaid grass actually moving when you ran on it.

Man Utd were supposed to play City there last pre season but 80,000 fans were left disappointed.

Reading 0 Newcastle 0, Championship -  March 7, 2017

By Tom Barclay

I'm sure I've attended worse which I can't recall but Reading's pitch last night was not good.

London Irish use the Mad Stad too and you can tell with numerous patches of sandy earth where little grass grows.

Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez diplomatically labelled it "not the best" and it certainly does no favours to Jaap Stam's pass-obsessed Royals.

By Danny Higginbotham

Bury's Gigg Lane, 1990s

I remember playing for Manchester United Reserves against Liverpool Reserves at Gigg Lane, Bury’s ground.

They used to play a lot of rugby there and the pitch was horrendous.

That night Liverpool had a lot of first-teamers playing because they were coming back from injures or suspensions.

Suffice to say, they weren’t very comfortable with the surface!

I understand Jose Mourinho will be worried about injuries out in Russia. But it is what it is and when teams are playing superior sides they will make the pitch bad – it’s a leveller. It denies United the chance to pass like they would want to it.

But United have no choice. They just have to deal with it.