Pitch Battles in Moscow
Dear oh dear. Where are Alan Titchmarsh, Diarmud Gavin or Charlie Dimmock when you need them? Many weeks ago these esteemed pages predicted that playing a Champions League final between two English sides in Moscow was a shambolic notion. But we were wrong.
It´s going to be far, far, far worse than that. The latest bout of bad news surrounds the shocking state of the Luzhniki Stadium pitch. You may remember that this was a plastic surface a few months back when dreadful Steve McLaren´s England surrendered a one goal lead to lose to the Russians and all but dashed our hopes of Euro 2008 participation.
After that game the vodka swillers tore the thing up and relaid a grass surface with this final in mind. Probably just about enough time to grow and establish a new pitch for the second most important match on the world´s footballing calendar we pondered.
However, three weeks ago Uefa inspectors said the new surface was too bumpy so they proceeded to dig that one up and relay another one just 15 days ago with turf donkey-and-carted from Slovakia.
The upshot is that no amount of spin and cover-ups from Uefa can disguise the fact that Wednesday´s game will be played on a surface about as smooth as the Moon´s.
That´s a factor that will not please Sir Alex Ferguson. United are a better footballing side than Chelsea and anything that disrupts their slick passing game will surely play into the Londoners´s hands.
I can just see it now. A tame Rio Ferdinand back pass hits a Moscow molehill and deflects into the net past a helpless Edwin Van Der Saar.
Get on the Chelski at those Bodog odds. Check out Bodog's Champions League odds.
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