[Saba Sports News] According to Spanish media reports, Barcelona manager Hans-Dieter Flick has complained that the grass at the Atlético Madrid home stadium is too long, and UEFA has responded that it will carry out an inspection. Reports state that after receiving Coach Flick’s complaint, UEFA officials replied that they will conduct a calibrated check on the pitch conditions at the Atlético Madrid home ground. If necessary, they will order the grass to be cut to comply with UEFA regulations. For their part, Atlético Madrid have stated that they have always abided by UEFA rules, and that the grass height at their home stadium remains the same as in previous seasons, both this campaign and earlier ones. UEFA rules require the average grass height on pitches not to exceed 3 centimetres. By comparison, the grass at Barcelona’s Camp Nou is normally only 2.3 centimetres high, which helps speed up ball movement and suits their traditional possession-based passing style of play.
The editor believes that earlier this year, the pitch at Atlético Madrid’s home stadium was affected by cold weather, resulting in poor conditions for a time—even their own players spoke about the issue. However, over the past month, the state of the pitch has improved significantly. If it failed to meet UEFA’s required standards, the organization would not have allowed Barcelona to hold training sessions there.