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Manchester United spray GARLIC on their pitch to improve surface ahead of Liverpool clash… and the stench can be smelled half-a-mile away
- Manchester United host Liverpool in crucial Premier League clash on Sunday
- The Old Trafford ground staff were busy on Friday preparing the pitch
- And they have a secret weapon to ensure a smooth surface – cloves of garlic
- United have sprayed the grass with garlic each week for the last five years
- It has transformed their pitch from a bumpy one to one of the league’s best
When two Premier League heavyweights like Manchester United and Liverpool go head-to-head, the last thing you want is a cut-up pitch ruining the free-flowing spectacle.
Luckily, the Old Trafford groundsmen have a slightly unusual trick up their sleeve to ensure a pristine playing surface – cloves of garlic.
For the past five years, the pitch at United’s home ground has been sprayed with the root vegetable as it helps keep parasites from destroying the roots.
The Old Trafford pitch is sprayed with garlic to ensure a pristine playing surface for Sunday
United’s ground staff have been using the garlic cloves each week for about five years
The rows of garlic cloves can be seen criss-crossing the Old Trafford pitch on Friday
And it’s proved a successful tactic in transforming what was a pretty poor Old Trafford surface into one worthy of the venue.
United aren’t the only Premier League club to use the technique and it’s judged worthwhile despite inevitably kicking up a bit of a stink.
Apparently the strong whiff of dozens of stinky garlic cloves can be smelled half-a-mile away from Old Trafford if the wind is in the right direction.
However, by the time matchday comes around, spectators are thankfully not subjected to the odour.
Sky Sports captured on camera the technique of dropping garlic cloves onto the Old Trafford pitch during their build-up to Sunday’s showdown between the two bitter rivals.
The garlic helps kill harmful parasites in order to ensure the pitch is as smooth as possible
The formerly bumpy Old Trafford surface has become one of the best in the Premier League
The Old Trafford ground staff with their lawnmowers after a Manchester United match
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has transformed United’s fortunes since taking over as interim manager
United will be hoping to dent Liverpool’s title ambitions when they meet on Sunday afternoon
Liverpool are chasing their first league title in 29 years and, as they currently trail leaders Manchester City on goal difference, cannot afford a slip-up at Old Trafford.
United, meanwhile, sit in fourth place but have been revitalised under interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, winning seven of eight league matches since the Norwegian took over in December.
They have also beaten Reading, Arsenal and Chelsea to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, with the one blot on Solskjaer’s copybook so far a 2-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
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