Atletico Madrid remain adamant recent issues with the Riyadh Air Metropolitano pitch are due to poor weather conditions.
Tottenham fell victim to the slippery surface in the Champions League on Tuesday evening as goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, substituted by interim boss Igor Tudor after just 17 minutes, and Micky van de Ven both lost their footing, gifting the hosts the opening three goals via Marcos Llorente, Antoine Griezmann and Julian Alvarez, respectively.
However, calamitous Spurs are not the only side to encounter problems with the turf as Barcelona also raised concerns about the quality of the grass following their 4-0 Copa del Rey semi-final first leg capitulation at the hands of Atletico on February 12.
Shortly after resigning as Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, who will stand again in the upcoming election on March 15, hit out over the lubricous Metropolitano pitch after goalkeeper Joan Garcia miscontrolled for Atletico's opener. Several other Barca players also ended up on the deck during the one-sided contest.
Laporta posted on X: "We faced a series of adversities, from a pitch in poor condition to a wrongly disallowed goal that prevented us from starting a comeback that is still possible in the return leg."
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But the controversy doesn't stop there and opposition players and chiefs are not the only figures to raise complaints about the surface over the past few months.
In early February, Atletico motored to a statement 5-0 win at Real Betis in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals. Just three days later, they hosted the same opponents in La Liga and surprisingly lost 1-0.
Speaking after the rout in Seville, Antoine Griezmann said: "Atletico's best match of the season? Maybe because of the pitch, it's the best in Spain. Ours doesn't help much and makes things difficult for us. We're a team that tries to play. We moved around a lot, we were involved off the ball, and that helps the team that has it a lot."
Atletico captain Koke added after his side were beaten on home soil: "The pitch isn't good, we slipped, it came up. A team like Atleti needs a quality pitch to play on. Then we're held to a higher standard."
Diego Simeone refused to attribute the poor surface as the sole factor behind the sub-par performance and result against Betis but since then, the situation has hardly improved.
Atletico hired Dutch hybrid grass technology company GrassMaster Solutions to relay the Riyadh Air Metropolitano pitch at the end of November after NFL giants Miami Dolphins completed a three-day training camp on site.
GrassMaster Solutions' motto is to 'provide everyone in the sports chain with the perfect pitch' and interestingly, Tottenham have previously called upon their services before on multiple occasions.
According to their website, Spurs have used GrassMaster to install new surfaces at White Hart Lane (2002 and 2012) and the Tottenham Hotspur Academy (2010, 2016, 2017, 2018). They have also completed work at Wembley (2019), Old Trafford (2017) and Anfield (2020).
Since the work at the Wanda was completed just shy of three-and-a-half months ago, Madrid has experienced heavy rainfall and cold, blustery conditions that have evidently impacted both the turf's development.
There were 10 consecutive days of rain in Madrid, around the time of the 4-0 victory over Barcelona and matches in other parts of the country (Rayo Vallecano vs Real Oviedo) were also postponed due to adverse weather.
UEFA say there are clear guidelines and regulations regarding the quality of the pitch which participating clubs must meet. If there are any grievances with the surface, they will likely be referenced in both the referee's and delegate's match reports.
Speaking to football.london, Atletico sources insist the slippery pitch is merely down to recent rainfall and consequently, the conditions are the same for both teams.
Meanwhile journalists covering the Spanish outfit have noted that Simeone's side has struggled to inject speed into their game at home over the past six weeks.
