Jose Mourinho is far from impressed about the pitch Manchester United have to play on in Russia on Thursday.
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United are in Rostov-on-Don to face FC Rostov in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League Round of 16 clash and the quality of the pitch at Olimp-2 Stadium leaves much to be desired.
On Wednesday Mourinho and his players attended the stadium for a training session and many laughed when they saw the bumpy surface which was rock solid. Mourinho said he complained to the UEFA officials about the quality of the playing surface and the response he got was simple: your players are insured.“It is hard for me to believe that we are going to play on that field, if you can call it a field,” Mourinho told reporters. “I don’t know what team to play, really. I don’t know if Henrikh Mkhitaryan is going to play, I don’t know. I have now a lot to think (about) because I was expecting something more playable.
“In a very similar pitch in the summer in China, we and Manchester City decided not to play. But it looks like we have to play.”
United’s grueling 4,000 mile round-trip journey hasn’t started in the best manner as they face three games in the next seven days with an FA Cup quarterfinal at Premier League leaders Chelsea sandwiched in-between the home and home games against Rostov for a spot in the Europa League quarterfinals. 238 hardy United fans have made the journey to Russia for the clash.
Below are some photos and videos of the current pitch conditions around 24 hours before kick off in what’s expected to be a packed and partisan home crowd.
You can see why Mourinho and his players are far from impressed...
Herrera & Rojo testing out the bounce of the ball in Rostov ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/BGTBQHeULv
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) March 8, 2017
Last picture of the pitch. It's minging. pic.twitter.com/dEs6CPUHg5
— Rob Dawson (@RobDawsonESPN) March 8, 2017
Jose Mourinho out looking at the pitch. Doesn't look good. pic.twitter.com/XbDoIQonuC
— Rob Dawson (@RobDawsonESPN) March 8, 2017
