Manchester United defender Daley Blind has warned that the terrible state of the pitch at the Olimp-2 Stadium cannot be used as an excuse for any potential poor performance from his side.

The state of the playing surface at Rostov's ground has dominated the build up to United's Round of 16 Europa League clash and Jose Mourinho has been very vocal regarding his criticism of the poor quality of the pitch ahead of the game.

Defender Blind is not wasting too much time thinking about the pitch though and has stated that it cannot be used as an excuse if United fail to win on Thursday night.

The Dutchman said: "It's not the best.

"But that's not what you have in your mind. Maybe the quality of the game will be a bit different.

"But it doesn't have to be an excuse for us."