An infernal week in Seville 'burned' the lawn of La Cartuja

Luis Enrique's complaints about the La Cartuja lawn they did not sit well with any of the organizers of the European Championship in Seville. Neither UEFA, nor the stadium society, nor of course the Junta de Andalucía, the great supporter of the tournament reaching the Andalusian capital after not being able to be held in Bilbao. “The grass was the best we could. We have taken maximum care of it”, Some leaders of the organization claimed as soon as they heard that the coach was throwing part of the blame for the 0-0 draw against Sweden to the ground.

And yes, the pitch was yellowish, it was somewhat dry and hard and there were certain irregularities. He was far from being ideal for Spain's touch game. The alibi has a lot of meteorological, irremediable, and goes between the structural and conjunctural. Until a few days ago, say those who have been regularly in the stadium, the pitch seemed perfect. But last week Seville literally boiled with temperatures of almost 40 degrees in the shade during the day and no less than 30 throughout the night. Too hot for early June. That has 'burned' the grass, difficult to recover in a short time despite the fact that care has been taken day and night and recommendations of the Selection itself have been followed, such as mowing it very short and doing it more times than usual.

The climate of Seville and the time pressure will not allow much more to be done between now and Saturday, for Spain-Poland, although measures have already begun to be taken. Sevilla and Betis, in fact, usually take advantage of the summer weather almost every year to change the grass or subject it to a special treatment because it can hardly be kept in good condition due to the intense heat of the Guadalquivir Valley, especially during the months of July and August. The color of the grass this Monday, in fact, was what They usually present the playing fields of Benito Villamarín and Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán when the League begins, in the middle or end of August, and it remains so practically until October.