Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho’s wish to have the Europa League clash at Rostov today called off due to the state of the pitch has fallen on deaf ears, with UEFA confirming it will go ahead as planned despite the surface not being in “perfect condition”.

Having described the last-16 tie as a “bad draw in every aspect”, the United manager’s feelings only worsened upon inspection of the Olimp-2 stadium surface ahead of the first leg yesterday.

Mourinho compared the pitch to the Bird’s Nest quagmire that saw United’s money-spinning pre-season friendly against Manchester City in Beijing called off last summer.

But United will have to play on Rostov’s sandy, loose surface as UEFA has confirmed the last-16 first leg will go ahead as planned.

Such news was unlikely to surprise Mourinho given United had  already made the long trip to Russia, yet it will no doubt stick in the craw given his misgivings ahead of the tie.

“It’s still hard for me to believe that we are going to play (there),” Manchester United’s visibly-angered manager said at the pre-match press conference.

“I know that we have to, but it is hard for me to believe we are going to play (today) on that field – if you can call it a field.

“And I don’t know what team to play, really. I don’t know if Henrikh Mkhitaryan is going to play, I don’t know.

“I have now a lot to think (about) because I was expecting something more playable for this tie.”

A sell-out crowd lies in wait and Rostov manager Ivan Daniliants cared little for Mourinho’s complaints about the pitch.

“There were no incidents on this pitch before because we already played against Sparta Prague and the pitch was actually worse,” he said.

“We understand that it’s not a decision of our club, it’s UEFA’s decision to play match.

“For sure we would like to play this match on better pitch... like Wembley Stadium.”