Officials of former European champions Celtic expressed concerns about the state of the pitch for their Champions League qualifying match against Qarabag in Azerbaijan tomorrow after UEFA announced that the venue would not be changed.
Earlier reports suggested the surface of the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium in Baku was “unplayable” after damage caused by the intense heat in the capital.
A spokesman for Qarabag, who lost the first leg 1-0 in Glasgow, told BBC the pitch was “not ideal”.
But in a statement, UEFA said: “There are no plans to change the venue and the match is scheduled to go ahead as planned.”
Speaking before flying from Glasgow yesterday, Celtic’s assistant manager John Collins told reporters that any problems with the pitch would be the same for both teams.
“At this level you expect the pitch to be of a good standard but if it isn’t we’ll just have to adapt our play,” he said.
“They have had extremely warm temperatures. I don’t know if the grass has some kind of disease in it or something, but it doesn’t look good apparently.
“We got a phone call from (club) security. They’re over there and they say it’s not looking good.”
A spokesman for Football and Sports Management, who are responsible for the maintenance of the pitch, told BBC Scotland: “The pitch is playable. Some areas have been damaged by the heat.
“At the moment in Baku, it is about 38 or 39 degrees but at pitch level at midday it is about 51 or 52 degrees.”
Whichever team goes through will enter the final play-off round for the lucrative UEFA Champions League group stage.
Celtic yesterday said that Leigh Griffiths and Nir Bitton have both travelled but Charlie Mulgrew will miss out on tomorrow’s match with a knee injury.
Griffiths came off early with a calf knock in Celtic’s Premiership opener against Ross County on Saturday after opening the scoring in the 2-0 victory, while Bitton sat out the game because of an ankle complaint.
“Both are still carrying knocks,” Collins said.
“Leigh didn’t train today, he was on the bike, and Nir is the same – but they will be fine for training in Baku. We expect them both to be available.
“Charlie has not travelled.
“He will be fine for Saturday (against Partick Thistle) but this one has come a little bit too early for him.”
Champions League
Third qualifying round
| Playing today | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Agg |
| Ajax (Holland) vs Rapid Vienna (Austria) | 2-2 | ||
| Apoel FC (Cyprus) vs FC Midtjylland (Denmark) | 2-1 | ||
| Molde (Norway) vs Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) | 1-1 | ||
| Monaco (France) vs Young Boys (Switzerland) | 3-1 | ||
| Tomorrow | |||
| Club Brugge (Belgium) vs Panathinaikos (Greece) | 1-2 | ||
| FC Astana (Kazakhstan) vs HJK Helsinki (Finland) | 0-0 | ||
| FC Basel (Switzerland) vs Lech Poznan (Poland) | 3-1 | ||
| FC Bate Borisov (Belarus) vs Videoton (Hungary) | 1-1 | ||
| KF Skenderbeu (Albania) vs M. Orhei (Moldova) | 2-0 | ||
| Malmo FF (Sweden) vs Salzburg (Austria) | 0-2 | ||
| P. Belgrade (Serbia) vs S. Bucharest (Romania) | 1-1 | ||
| Qarabag (Azerbaijan) vs Celtic (Scotland) | 0-1 | ||
| S. Prague (Czech Rep.) vs CSKA Moscow (Russia) | 2-2 | ||
| S. Donetsk (Ukraine) vs Fenerbahce (Turkey) | 0-0 | ||
| V. Plzen (Czech Rep.) vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel) | 2-1 | ||
Play-off round draw: August 7.