Concerns have been raised over the state of the surface at the Luzhniki Stadium.
Groundsman disappointed with surface
Concerns have been raised over the state of the surface at the Luzhniki Stadium ahead of Wednesday's UEFA Champions League final.
The artificial pitch has been replaced by grass but English groundsman Matthew Frost is still not sure that Manchester United and Chelsea will be satisfied.
Frost, who has been charged with preparing the pitch, has admitted there will not be enough time to get it up to standard.
"We've done what we can and it is getting better every day, but unfortunately the final is too soon for us," Frost said in the
Daily Telegraph.
"There are dead patches and it looks like dozens of cricket batting strips in a nice green outfield."
Damaged
Frost has been in Russia for nine months but his advice has not been heeded and officials insisted on trying turf that was grown close to the stadium.
The surface was found to be too bumpy and a replacement pitch was bought from Slovakia just this month.
Much of the grass died in transit and Frost expects the ball to bobble, although he still believes the original synthetic pitch would have been even worse for the players.
"The transport was difficult and it damaged the turf. I don't think the grass was stretched out properly," Frost explained.
"There are patches that are desiccated, with dead plant material on the surface. There's no life in it and there's no chemical to bring that back to life and you just can't water it.
"It's less good than the average Premier league pitch, but it is an awful lot better than the plastic pitch underneath, which was like playing on concrete."
Uefa worry
Uefa spokesman William Gaillard is less anxious about the quality of the pitch but is not happy with its appearance.
"We are slightly worried about the look of it," Gaillard conceded.
"It may not look very, very green on television but, essentially, it is a good pitch to play football on."
