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Arsenal and Atl\u00e9tico Madrid were embroiled in a \u201cgrass war\u201d ahead of their Champions League clash at the Metropolitano on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Arsenal saw off Sporting while Atl\u00e9tico Madrid got past Barcelona to set up the semi-final, which has been billed as the meeting of two beasts following the 5-4 between beauties Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the other semi-final<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Ahead of a game set to be decided by fine margins Arsenal took issue with the finest of those margins as they questioned the length of the grass after ground staff studied the pitch.<\/p>\n They were seen gesticulating and arguing with men in suits \u2013 presumably UEFA officials \u2013 around an hour before kick-off.<\/p>\n Revealing the details of the \u201cgrass war\u201d for CBS Sports<\/em><\/strong>Spanish journalist Guillem Balagu\u00e9 claimed Arsenal believed it was a case of Atl\u00e9tico Madrid boss Diego Simeoe engaging in the \u2018dark arts\u2019.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI need to tell you about the war of grass \u2013 the grass war that took place about an hour ago, because the Arsenal ground staff came in thinking the grass is too high; they were not happy with it.<\/p>\n \u201cThey asked UEFA to actually measure it. They thought it was some (Diego) Simeone \u2018dark arts\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cUEFA said it was 26mm. The limit is 30mm; it goes between 21mm and 30mm.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: Premier League player power rankings: Bruno Fernandes holds off Declan Rice<\/strong><\/p>\n He then asked Alessandro Del Piero if he thought it was a \u201crelevant\u201d complaint, and the Juventus legend confirmed it was, for Atletico.<\/p>\n Del Piero said: \u201cPeople don\u2019t understand properly because we have this idea of Atletico and Simeone that they are amazing at defence. They double up (on players) and run more than anyone.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the speed of the ball when they attack is unbelievable ad look at the strikers they have: (Ademola) Lookman, (Antoine) Griezman and (Julian) Alvarez. All of these guys need the ball and are technically excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n Del Piero believes the complaint painted a telling \u201cpicture\u201d of where Arsenal are at after ceding their advantage in the Premier League title race to Manchester City.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cI worry about Arsenal and Arteta bringing this up. It\u2019s a great picture of the moment of Arsenal. They are struggling a bit and need to have a look at every detail.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n