Young Boys boss says Manchester United won’t struggle with astroturf

Manchester United are good enough to cope with an artificial surface at the Stade Suisse in their Champions League Group H opener against Young Boys Bern, says the Swiss club’s coach Gerardo Seoane.

United kick off their European campaign against the champions of Switzerland on Wednesday night with the added complication of playing on astroturf.

But Seoane said: ‘We can’t change the pitch. It’s clear they are not used to pitches like this, so in the beginning it will be a special feeling.’

But Young Boys boss Gerardo Seoane believes United have enough quality to overcome it

‘But with training tonight and the warm-up, I think they will be alright. They have the quality, speed and technique to play on this pitch. So I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.’ 

Although this is United ‘s first ever meeting with Young Boys, Romelu Lukaku scored a hat-trick here – and five goals over two legs – when Everton beat the Swiss in the Europa League in 2014.

However, Seoane claims that his players cannot simply focus on stopping United’s top scorer.

He added: ‘Normally, it is the players who score the goals we need to look out for. But I can see eight players who can score goals in that team. So it’s not just one player. The defence need to work together and defend close. There’s more important than one player.

‘Of course, it is a difficult task, but we’ll try to be active. We’ll play with courage. We can’t do that for the whole game, but that is how we want to play.’