Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho is furious with the state of the pitch that his players will face FC Rostov on in the Europa League on Thursday.
United have flown out to Russia for the first leg of their round-of-16 tie in what is a critical run of fixtures for them in terms of their aspirations of winning more silverware and staying in the hunt for a top four finish in the Premier League.
With Chelsea in the FA Cup on Monday, Mourinho will be desperate to return home with no fresh injury concerns, but it appears as though he is hugely concerned that that will simply not be the case.
Comparing the pitch at Rostov to that they saw at the Bird’s Nest in China in pre-season, the Portuguese tactician was far from impressed with it and even raised his concerns with a UEFA official.
His response probably wasn’t what Mourinho was looking for as he insisted that the ‘players are insured’, but based on his comments seen in the tweet below, the United boss is fuming that he has to send his stars out on this specific pitch which will risk further injuries.
Eric Bailly is suspended while Wayne Rooney and Luke Shaw have been left behind. Henrikh Mkhitaryan has returned from injury, but based on the pitch problem, he may now not be risked.
Mourinho: "It is hard for me to believe that we are going to play on that field, if you can call it a field. I don't know what team to play"
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) March 8, 2017
Mourinho compares the Rostov pitch to the Bird's Nest in the summer. Just raised concerns to UEFA official, who told him players are insured
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) March 8, 2017