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Ferguson unconcerned by state of Moscow pitch

21/05/2008

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said he has "no concerns" over the state of the pitch for the Champions League final against Chelsea.

The condition of the grass has been widely criticised by many media commentators, who have claimed the "patchy" surface should be in better condition for a game of this magnitude.

But when asked about the Luzhniki Stadium surface, which has only recently been changed from an artificial pitch to natural grass, Ferguson said he did not believe it would be a problem.

"I have no concerns about it," he said.

"Uefa have done their best - and the fact they've re-laid the astroturf that was there before is a big relief for me.

"There's no fear from me about the pitch at this time."

Ferguson's comments come soon after Uefa president Michel Platini backed the state of the ground, which has been recently changed using frozen grass turf from Slovakia at a cost of around £160,000.

He said he did not anticipate any complaints from the players or managers ahead of the game.

"I think we should wait until the players have trained on it and the coaches have seen it first," Platini said earlier.

"They are the ones who will decide on the state of the pitch. But I have not heard of any problems so far."

Despite this support for the work of the ground staff, chief groundsman Mike Frost said he believed the surface would be no better than "acceptable", describing it as "a big personal disappointment".

"Things didn't go well from the start, the pitch has only been down for 15 days," he told BBC Radio Five Live.

"I'm totally disappointed with the whole project and what we are presenting for the final.

"My main achievement is that we have got a new pitch down. If I hadn't persuaded them, they would have used the old one which would have been a catastrophe."