{"id":726398,"date":"2026-04-14T03:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T03:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/726398\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T03:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T03:13:12","slug":"flick-complains-to-uefa-about-the-metropolitano-pitch-ahead-of-atletico-madrid-vs-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/726398\/","title":{"rendered":"Flick complains to UEFA about the Metropolitano pitch ahead of Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona are gearing up for their most important match of the season so far as they take on Atletico Madrid in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals this midweek.<\/p>\n<p>The Catalans have the daunting challenge of overcoming a two-goal deficit at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, which often proves to be a hostile atmosphere for the visiting team.<\/p>\n<p>It is no different this time around, with Hansi Flick already not too happy with the condition of the pitch, heading into this vital affair.<\/p>\n<p>Flick lodges complaint about the pitch<\/p>\n<p>According to ElDesmarque, Hansi Flick complained to UEFA officials about the state of the pitch ahead of the Atletico Madrid clash.<\/p>\n<p>Images captured by ElDesmarque show the Barcelona head coach approaching UEFA delegates present at the training ground and pointing out a specific section of the field.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet tw-align-center\">\n<p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83c\udf31 Parece que Hansi Flick no est\u00e1 muy conforme con el estado del c\u00e9sped del Metropolitano\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udd17 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vm1Nx3Fli8\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/vm1Nx3Fli8<\/a> \ud83d\udd17 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/oqi8qtA94l\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/oqi8qtA94l<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ElDesmarque (@eldesmarque) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eldesmarque\/status\/2043731971625353482?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 13, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>His concern appears to centre around the height of the grass. It remains unclear whether his dissatisfaction also extends to the dryness of the surface.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the seriousness of his concern, Flick is said to have raised the issue politely, making his displeasure known in a measured manner rather than causing a scene. <\/p>\n<p>After all, for a Barcelona side that thrives on quick, fluid passing football, a heavy or uneven surface at the Metropolitano could pose an additional obstacle in what is already a formidable task.<\/p>\n<p>However, this was something Barcelona were always expecting heading into the second-leg clash. Even before the first leg, the team was aware that the return leg at the Metropolitano would be a difficult affair due to Atleti\u2019s game-play and the condition of the pitch.<\/p>\n<p>The onus is now on the Catalans to overcome this difficult situation and secure a comeback against Diego Simeone\u2019s men this week.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barcelona are gearing up for their most important match of the season so far as they take on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":726399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[45],"tags":[6069,1386,4444,5727,5729,221,62,116133,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-726398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-atletico-madrid","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-hansi-flick","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-uefa-champions-league","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116400882048591132","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}