CHELSEA’S mouth-watering Champions League tie against Barcelona has exploded into controversy before a ball has been kicked amid suggestions of a dirty tricks campaign by the Barclays Premiership champions. A week before they arrive in West London, the Spanish club are seething at the state of the Stamford Bridge pitch, claiming that it has been deliberately allowed to deteriorate to hinder their flowing football.
José Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, used every trick in the book to mastermind a memorable victory last year, questioning Frank Rijkaard’s managerial credentials before the first leg and accusing the Dutchman of seeking to influence Anders Frisk, the referee, during the game, and Barcelona fear that the supreme strategist may be at it again.
Chelsea’s pitch has been deteriorating for several months but for the first time in four years they have opted not to relay it in mid-season, a decision that has been noted with dismay in Catalonia. Barcelona, by contrast, have made a very public show of improving their own surface for the second time in six months, spending £130,000 on importing 1,100 sods of turf from Bordeaux to replace the top six inches of the existing pitch. “We know what Chelsea have done and why,” a Barcelona source said. “It’s because they know we like to play the ball on the floor and they are just an aerial side.”
Silvinho, the club’s former Arsenal full back, had no wish to inflame the situation further but confirmed that Chelsea’s poor pitch was the talk of the Barcelona dressing-room. “I played two years in England and got used to this,” the Brazil defender said.
“I’ve heard that the conditions of their pitch are even worse than they used to be. It doesn’t surprise me because it’s always cold in England and they don’t stop at Christmas. I’m not going to say they’ve done it because they’re playing us, but that is the culture in English football. We have to accept the situation and go out and play there whatever the pitch is like.”
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Chelsea will not be happy about their reputation being besmirched in such a manner, though after successfully winding them up last season, Mourinho will take heart from signs that Barcelona are feeling the pressure again. After a record run of 14 successive league wins, the Spanish champions have lost their past two games, hardly the ideal preparation for a meeting with the side that put them out of the Champions League in the first knockout round last season.
Chelsea insist that they have left their pitch alone in the hope of installing a better surface in the summer, and poor playing conditions do not appear to have affected their own form.
Mourinho is adamant that the surface is the same for both teams, while John Terry, his captain, insists that the pitch does not inhibit passing football. “The pitch isn’t actually that bad,” he said. “You’ve got to be a bit more careful with your touch as the bounce is sometimes uneven, but it doesn’t stop us playing our football. With the quality we’ve got in the side, that’s our strength, getting the ball down and playing.”
Barcelona’s complaints are likely to herald three weeks of sniping before the argument is finally settled on the new Nou Camp pitch on March 7, though by the end of the season the warring clubs could effectively be commercial partners through a joint association with Samsung. The Korean electronics giant, which pays £10 million a season to sponsor Chelsea, is close to agreeing a £15 million-a-year deal to become Barcelona’s first shirt sponsor.