Yahoo News Aston Villa follow Man City plan to combat unique Champions League problem
Aston Villa will train at the Wankdorf Stadium today to get used to the artificial surface they'll play on against Young Boys on Tuesday night.
The Swiss Super League champions host Villa for the first Champions League league phase fixture, but Unai Emery's side will face the challenge of adapting to their synthetic pitch. Manchester United lost 2-1 to Young Boys in Bern in 2021, while Manchester City claimed a 3-1 victory in last season's Champions League group stage.
Pep Guardiola stated that it is "common sense" that grass is better for football in his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Young Boys, while City, like Villa, also chose to train at the Wankdorf Stadium instead of at their training campus in Manchester before the game.
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"The grass is better [than an artificial surface]," Guardiola said. "Because 99.9% of the teams who play in high level play on grass, otherwise Uefa and Fifa would decide to play on artificial pitch. It’s common sense I would say. It is what it is.
"If Uefa allows games to be played here it’s because it’s in good conditions. That’s one of the reasons we never train away [to ensure we have our own surface] but this is an exception.
"This is why we travel in the morning to allow the players to feel the surface – how the ball runs, how to move left, right, backwards, forwards. We will try it and the players will know immediately."
Guardiola was asked if there is markedly more chance of injury on a synthetic pitch. "I don’t know," he said. "Hopefully not for both sides, but I don’t know. We are not used to it. Any team that plays here is not used to it. It suits the Swiss league and in the Champions League the teams that come here have to adapt. We will not be the first in this situation. But we have to use it as a benefit."
Young Boys have made a slow start to their league campaign and sit bottom of the Swiss top-flight after the first six matches. Patrick Rahmen's side are without a win in the league, but beat Galatasaray home and away in the Champions League play-offs.
