Ernesto Valverde blasts Real Valladolid pitch

Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde has backed up Gerard Pique's claim that Real Valladolid's pitch is a hazard following their La Liga clash on Saturday night.

A second-half Ousmane Dembele effort saw Barcelona collect all three points, but the state of the playing surface was the major talking point after the match.

Indeed, the pitch at the Estadio Jose Zorrilla was only laid on Thursday, and noticeably cut up inside the first five minutes of action.

"The state of the pitch has played a big part in the match. I am not saying that there were not other elements also with Valladolid playing their part but the playes slipped, the pitch came up and we had some injuries," Marca quotes Valverde as saying.

"The truth is that it seems incredible in this day and age it can happen like this. I imagine that Valladolid did all they could and there will have been a reason why the pitch was not put down before."

Barcelona are the early leaders in La Liga, having taken six points from an available six thus far this season.