England stars injured due to "awful" pitch - with Grealish among those impacted

21 November 2023 , 22:30

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Monday's pitch was in a poor condition (Image: Getty Images)

England stars were left with bad cuts after playing on North Macedonia's "awful" pitch.

England's final Euro 2024 qualifier against North Macedonia in Skopje on Monday finished 1-1. Enis Bardhi opened the scoring for the hosts before Jani Atanasov found his own net. The Three Lions had already qualified for next summer's tournament in Germany.

‌The newly laid surface in the Todor Proeski Stadium was rock hard. Players complained it was full of sand and stones, which caused cuts and grazes. Gareth Southgate's stars were concerned about the pitch before the game and had even been not to warm up in certain areas to try and save the grass.

‌Players feared injury and were relieved that no one was seriously hurt on the pitch, which has been reported to UEFA in the past as being a major worry. Three Lions midfielder Jack Grealish said: "I have got cuts all over. The pitch was awful.

"It baffles me how pitches like that are acceptable, to be honest. There were like little stones everywhere. Phil has cut his hand because of the stones on the pitch but yes, it is part of what you are going to get to some places."

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‌England defender Harry Maguire added: "Where do I start? I’ve not played on a pitch as bad as that for a while. It was basically sand, my foot kept getting stuck, you saw in the first half, I made a challenge in the first half after my foot got stuck in the ground.

‌"My knees are all grazed from the sand, every time we went on the floor, it was sand, it was like falling on a beach, it was that bad out there.

Jack Grealish was left with cuts on his legs (Getty Images)

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‌"We don’t want to make excuses, we’re all international players and people will say we should be able to play on anything. But it was tough and I’m happy that the lads came away with no injuries, that’s the main thing coming off that pitch."

Concerns about the pitch were raised before Monday's game. Southgate told reporters in his pre-match press conference: "I know they’ve re-laid it.

"I would imagine it hasn’t quite knitted, but we’ll see. That’s why you want to make sure you’re qualified well in advance. We said that right at the start of the qualifying campaign, you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get away from home."

Players from both teams criticised the pitch after North Macedonia's 1-1 draw against Italy in September. Italy's Ciro Immobile said: "Playing on a pitch like this could be dangerous. We knew it was going to be a tough game, but on this field, it becomes even tougher."

John Cross