By Clare Lovell
COBHAM, England, Feb 17 - Jose Mourinho described
his Stamford Bridge pitch as a potato field on Friday in the run
up to Chelsea's high profile Champions League encounter with
Barcelona.
The Chelsea manager told reporters it was far from the worst
in the Premier League, however, and it would do his side no more
favours than the Spanish champions next Wednesday.
Before that first knockout round first leg game, the pitch
will be churned up again during the FA Cup fifth round tie
against third division Colchester United on Sunday.
Spanish newspapers have suggested Chelsea deliberately let
the playing surface deteriorate to ruin Barcelona's flair-filled
passing game.
"We know the pitch is not good, the criticism is fair," said
Mourinho, though he cited Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Everton
as having worse surfaces.
"But only stupid people can think that a team like Chelsea
with the quality Chelsea have can be happy with a pitch like
this.
"All we can do is take care of it the best we can," he said,
adding Chelsea had not trained on it since the start of the
season and would not do so before Wednesday's game.
POTATO FIELD
With heavy irony, Mourinho added: "Because we have no
technical players we need a potato field, so we play on a potato
field".
There is no love lost between Chelsea and Barcelona
following last season's Champions League spat after which
Mourinho was fined for suggesting rival coach Frank Rijkaard
spoke to referee Anders Frisk at halftime.
On Friday, Mourinho took a gentle sideswipe by referring to
a spate of injuries among the Catalans.
"Maybe you have to ask in Barcelona why they have so many
injuries to knees," he said. "Maybe it's because the pitch is
too good."
Mourinho has injury worries for Sunday but said they were
not due to the pitch.
French midfielder Lassana Diarra will replace Claude
Makelele while Robert Huth and Ricardo Carvalho come in for
defenders Asier del Horno and William Gallas.
Captain John Terry is suspended.
Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba, runner-up in the last
week at the African Nations Cup and as African player of the
year, will also feature.