Gerrard responds to Klopp’s complaint over the Stade de France pitch

Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday, Jurgen Klopp criticized the state of the Stade de France pitch ahead of the

final. A new surface was hastily put in place following a rock concert last week.

Klopp said:

"It’s not ideal and it’s the same for both teams but what I would say is both teams trained on this pitch less than 24 hours ago.

"To me it looks in very good condition considering it hasn’t been laid for very long and I think both sets of players, both managers, both clubs are above thinking about the pitch, they’ll be full focused on what they’ve got to do once the game starts.

"You can see the lines where they put the pieces of the pitch (together), which is what we aren’t used to.

"That someone thought it was a good idea to bring the pitch the day before to the stadium is an interesting idea.

"But it didn’t kill my mood a per cent. I am really happy we are here, I would have played the game on petanque."

Steven Gerrard who is a pundit for BT Sport for the final insists both

and

should not be looking for any excuses.

He told BT Sport:

"It’s not ideal and it’s the same for both teams but what I would say is both teams trained on this pitch less than 24 hours ago.

"To me, it looks in very good condition considering it hasn’t been laid for very long and I think both sets of players, both managers, both clubs are above thinking about the pitch, they’ll be fully focused on what they’ve got to do once the game starts."

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