Beth Mead has said it’s ‘owed to the players’ for Women’s Champions League games to be played on better quality pitches after Arsenal’s quarter-final defeat at Real Madrid‘s Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium last week on a rain-sodden surface.
Speaking to Mail Sport ahead of the second leg at the Emirates on Wednesday evening, where Arsenal are currently behind 2-0 on aggregate, the 29-year-old forward said: ‘It wasn’t my favourite pitch to have played on all season. A Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid, (it’s) owed to the players and their safety.
‘(But while) it wasn’t the best pitch to play on, we had to do our job and get on with it. Obviously, it’s been spoken about and hopefully it can be rectified for the future.’
Adamant not to make excuses for Arsenal’s two-goal deficit, Mead said: ‘(Madrid) had two chances and took them. Ultimately, they played on a bad pitch better than we did, which is frustrating.
‘But we know the quality we have behind ourselves as a team and we’ve got to prove ourselves next week when we play them at the Emirates and hopefully we can get ourselves back into the game. But we have full belief as a team.’
Just over 20,000 tickets have been sold for Wednesday’s game and with more expected to be sold between now then, there is a chance that the current record for a UWCL quarter-final in England – which is 21,307, held by Arsenal – could be broken.
Beth Mead has said it’s ‘owed to the players’ for Women’s Champions League games to be played on better quality pitches
The quality of the playing surface at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano during Arsenal’s clash against Real Madrid came under fire
The Lionesses star and McDonald’s Fun Football ambassador hailed the restaurant giant’s new partnership with UK Deaf Sport
And Mead hopes the fans will be able to give the team ‘a lot of energy’ in what she expects will be a high-scoring game.
‘We have to put out a performance to get us into a semi-final of the Champions League, which has obviously got to be a good performance against a very good Madrid side,’ she said. ‘But it’s doable. We’ll be going with the belief that we’re going to score goals and get ourselves back into the game.’
McDonald’s Fun Football ambassador Beth Mead said: ‘I’ve been to many McDonald’s Fun Football sessions now but this one was different, the new partnership with UK Deaf Sport makes sure that every child has a space to play football, with over 20 free hearing-impaired sessions running across the country in spring, and though the session was structured differently the smiles were the same! Sign-ups to the programme are now open and I really hope to see more children than ever get involved.’
McDonald’s Fun Football and UK Deaf Sport are offering free, specialised football sessions for children with hearing impairments across England. Find your nearest session at mcdonalds.co.uk/football.