Manchester United custodian David De Gea has opened up about how the artificial turf will affect their game when they take on Swiss side Young Boys in their UEFA Champions League Group H encounter.
Manchester United are used to playing in a natural carpeted grass with all English Premier League pitches having natural playing surfaces. Jose Mourinho in the build-up to the match has asked his players to emulate Swiss tennis player Rodger Federer who has adapted to playing to various tennis courts. The Young Boys stadium, Stade de Suisse has an artificial playing surface that is commonly referred to as 3G.
When asked if the artificial pitch will affect the game De Gea said, “Sure, it will be different to playing on a normal pitch, but we need to play football, we need to try to play well and win the game. We’re not used to playing on artificial grass so it’s going to be a bit different – probably more difficult for us. We’ll try to play our football, we know it’s going to be a tough game but we need to play our best football to win.”
The Spanish keeper also gave an assessment of the Young Boys game, “Maybe people think it is going to be easy, but we definitely don’t. We watched some videos of them and they are a good team. They are playing at home, with their fans, so it will be a tough game.”
