Mourinho warns about Santa Clara pitch, Benfica and league agree | OneFootball

José Mourinho’s complaints about the pitch at Estádio de São Miguel, which he considered to be “a problem” ahead of this Friday’s match against Santa Clara, are justified by the ranking of the green pitches that host Liga Portugal Betclic matches.

The ground of the Azorean team, coached by Petit, appears in 18th and last place in the ranking of the professional competitions’ organizing entity, with a score of only 6.04 points on average across the 11 matches played there, including against Porto and Sporting.

For comparison, the best pitch in the league is at Estádio da Luz, with 10 points (11 matches), followed by José Alvalade (9.95 points/10 matches) and Cidade de Barcelos, home of Gil Vicente (9.8/10). At the opposite end of the table are the pitches at Alverca (6.41/11) and AFS SAD (6.32/11), still rated higher than Santa Clara’s ground.

According to information gathered by the newspaper Record from those who have already played on the Estádio de São Miguel pitch this season, the turf lifts very easily, which causes very dangerous holes to form, posing a risk to the players’ physical integrity.

Benfica will take to the field again this Friday, February 13th, against the islanders of Santa Clara. The match, counting for the 22nd round of Liga Portugal Betclic, against the team coached by Petit, will be played at 18:30 at Estádio de São Miguel.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.