Scotland captain Scott Brown fears the Hampden pitch could ruin next month’s Scottish Cup semi-final between Celtic and Rangers.
A new pitch was laid at the national stadium, which is also used as the home ground of League 2 side Queen’s Park, ahead of this month’s League Cup final between Ross County and Hibernian.
Brown, who made his 50th appearance for his country in Tuesday’s 1-0 win against Denmark, will return to Hampden on club duty when the leaders of the Scottish Premiership and the Scottish Championship meet in the last four of the Scottish Cup.
Brown was unimpressed by the new Hampden pitch and believes it could detract from the showpiece game between the two Glasgow clubs on April 17.
He said: “It was bang average as always. That’s what happens when you play somewhere that’s used week-in, week-out. You don’t see that happen down in England, but that’s football, and that’s good old Scotland for us.
“A new pitch always takes four to six weeks to bed in and it’s not had that time and it’s always going to be a bit slippy with bit of rain. But it’s a lot better than it was last year at this time.
“It probably won’t be the best for the semi-final. We just have to accept that every time we come here. If we can play on what we did against Rangers last year then we can play on anything.
“Murrayfield is exceptional. It’s flat and it’s nice. When we played on that last season with Celtic in the Champions League qualifiers it was unbelievable, one of the best pitches I’ve played on.”
Brown believes Scotland should feel optimistic about the forthcoming World Cup qualifying campaign after successive 1-0 wins against the Czech Republic and Denmark.
The Celtic captain also feels the performances of debutants Kieran Tierney and John McGinn are evidence of a bright future for the national team.
Brown added: “A win is a win and we managed to get a victory to keep our momentum going.
“The confidence is high and this has given the manager a little bit of a headache now. In the two games we’ve played really well and some of the players who have come in have performed exceptionally, especially Kieran Tierney and John McGinn.
“It shows the future is looking good for Scotland.”
