MOSCOW, October 23 (R-Sport) — The pitch for Manchester City's Champions League clash away to CSKA Moscow is nearly impossible to play on and the match could even be called off, City manager Manuel Pellegrini said.
Wednesday's match will be the first time the pitch at Arena Khimki has hosted a game since September 21 after being damaged by weeks of heavy rain.
The pitch, which City used for training Tuesday evening, has large bald areas and patches of what appear to be newly-laid turf.
"It's in poor condition," Pellegrini said. "I think it's unbelievable that in the most important competition of the world it's allowed to play on this pitch. I think playing tomorrow, if it rains, it will be impossible to play on it."
Asked if it was possible the match could be called off, Pellegrini said: "I think so," but added that there would be no heightened risk of injury if it did not rain.
With their home pitch out of action, CSKA have been forced to use a variety of small venues around Moscow in recent weeks and even to play a home Champions League game against Viktoria Plzen in St. Petersburg, around 800 kilometers away.
That has been accompanied by a run of poor form that caused the Russian champions' coach Leonid Slutsky to joke Tuesday: "The quality of the pitch reflects the quality of our recent results."
CSKA go into the game without having scored in their last five domestic league games and have four key players missing - defender Mario Fernandes and the midfield trio of Rasmus Elm, Alan Dzagoev and Aleksandrs Cauna.
City captain Vincent Kompany heads the visitors' injury list, while defender Martin Demichelis and midfielder Jack Rodwell also staying behind.
No rain is predicted for Wednesday's game, but near-freezing temperatures are forecast.
