Mourinho ‘livid’ as Uefa gives Rostov pitch green light
United manager fears surface is safety hazard
LA Galaxy launch bid to prise Ibrahimovic away
A furious Jose Mourinho believes Manchester United’s Europa League tie away to Rostov should have been moved to an alternative venue when the last-16 draw was made a fortnight ago, after condemning the shambolic state of the pitch at the Olimp-2 stadium yesterday.
Uefa confirmed in a statement that, following a pitch inspection, the match would go ahead as planned this evening, even though Mourinho claimed the surface was a safety hazard to his players and had thrown his selection plans for the first-leg tie into turmoil.
Mourinho may now rest players he had planned to start, amid fears of exposing them to a heightened risk of injury before Monday’s FA Cup quarter-final against Chelsea, and was described as “livid” after a Uefa official laughed off his complaints yesterday and told him that his squad were insured, “so if something happens, no problem”.
The United manager, who claimed the playing surface was as bad as the pitch at the Bird’s Nest in Beijing last summer that forced the cancellation of a pre-season tour game against Manchester City, would have supported the postponement of the match despite his side’s current backlog of fixtures.
But it is understood Mourinho felt a decision ought to have been taken at the time of the last-16 draw on Feb 24 to switch the game to a venue with a more suitable pitch.
It was unclear last night if United had sent a delegation to do a recce, although Ivan Daniliants, the Rostov coach, claimed the pitch had been in a worse condition after the Europa League round-of-32 tie at home to Sparta Prague on Feb 16.
Mourinho said: “It’s still hard for me to believe we are going to play tomorrow. I know we have to, but it is hard for me to believe we are going to play in that field, if you can call it a field.”
Henrikh Mkhitaryan is available again after missing the past two matches with a hamstring injury, but Mourinho may not risk the Armenia forward.
“I don’t know what team to play, really,” Mourinho said. “I have now a lot to think about, because I was expecting something more playable. It was a very similar pitch in the summer in China, when we and Manchester City decided not to play, but it looks like we have to.”
This is not the first pitch debacle for United in Europe this season. Their Europa League group game at Zorya Luhansk in December was briefly under threat because of a frozen playing surface in Odessa, Ukraine. Hot air had to be pumped on to the pitch. Mourinho was also unhappy about the state of the pitch in St-Étienne for the away leg of United’s round-of-32 tie.
Meanwhile, United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has reportedly been offered the chance of a lucrative move to LA Galaxy by ending his spell at Manchester United after one season.
United are desperate for the 35-year-old to extend his Premier League stay for another year, but multiple sources have told Sports
Illustrated that LA Galaxy want to make Ibrahimovic the highest-paid player in Major League Soccer history. He earns around £11 million a year at United, so the offer from America would eclipse that.
Ibrahimovic is serving a threematch ban, having accepted a violent conduct charge for elbowing Bournemouth’s Tyrone Mings in the face during the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford last weekend.
Mings yesterday was banned for five matches for stamping on the head of Ibrahimovic moments before the elbow incident – a decision Bournemouth described as “extraordinary”. Mings was found guilty of violent conduct, but the defender vigorously contested his Football Association charge, denying that he intended to stamp on his opponent. An independent regulatory commission found him guilty and ruled the standard three-game suspension for violent conduct would have been “clearly insufficient”.
Bournemouth, for whom Mings will not be available again until the trip to Tottenham on April 15, said: “We find it extraordinary that the charges can be described as ‘proven’ when there is absolutely no evidence to prove the incident was intentional.” Referee Kevin Friend failed to spot both incidents at Old Trafford, with retrospective action taken on Monday.