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Chelsea and Barca set for potato field showdown
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-02-21 11:01
LONDON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Controversy over the Stamford Bridge pitch and
memories of last season's momentous tussle have added an extra spark to
Chelsea's Champions League showdown with Barcelona on Wednesday.
Chelsea's muddy and balding pitch, described as a potato field by Jose
Mourinho and criticised in the Catalan media, is unlikely to help either the
Spanish or English champions in the first leg of the first knockout round tie.
Mourinho, reacting to suggestions they had deliberately allowed the pitch to
deteriorate to hamper Barcelona's passing game, said: "Only stupid people can
think that a team like Chelsea with the quality Chelsea have can be happy with a
pitch like this."
He added on Sunday that it looked worse than it played. "Sometimes you see
beautiful people with no brains but you see ugly people who are intelligent
scientists. Our pitch is a bit like that."
Barca are still smarting from last year's 4-2 defeat at Stamford Bridge
(having won the first leg 2-1) and know that they can still afford a repetition of
the lapses that gifted Chelsea three goals in the first 20 minutes.
"I've still got the images in my head of when the match finished and we were
out," Brazilian Ronaldinho told reporters on Sunday. "I don't want it to happen
again this year. We made errors and we have to make sure we don't repeat them.
"One of the keys will be to play football the way we know how. We have got an
advantage in having the second leg at the Nou Camp and we have got to make the
most of that."
Ronaldinho has no concerns about Chelsea's pitch.
"We know the grass is in a bad state but it will be the same for both teams
and I'm not worried about it," he said.
Mourinho will make wholesale changes from the side that defeated Colchester
in the FA Cup on Sunday, suspended captain John Terry, midfielder Frank Lampard
and keeper Petr Cech returning.
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