Manchester United’s Europa League game with FC Rostov WILL go ahead after UEFA insisted the pitch is playable.
Jose Mourinho suggested the last-16 first leg at Olimp-2 should be postponed because of the state of the playing surface.
But after a pitch inspection carried out on Wednesday, Europe’s governing body have insisted the game should so ahead as planned despite admitting the pitch is not ‘perfect’.
“A pitch inspection has been carried out by the match officials on Wednesday. The playing surface may not be in perfect condition, but has been deemed playable. The match will go ahead as scheduled,” A UEFA statement issued on Wednesday read.
Earlier in the day, Mourinho insisted the pitch poses a serious of risk of injury to his players.
He said: “It’s still hard for me to believe we are going to play. I know we have to, but it is hard for me to believe we are going to play tomorrow in that field – if you can call it a field.”
He said: “There were no incidents on this pitch before because we already played against Sparta Prague and the pitch was actually worse.
“We understand that it’s not a decision of our club it’s UEFA’s decision to play match. For sure we would like to play on better pitch like Wembley.”