Ian Wright hits out at 'ridiculous and poor' World Cup final pitch at the MetLife Stadium - and that was BEFORE extravagant half-time show featuring Justin Bieber and Shakira

Ian Wright has hit out at the state of the World Cup final pitch, dubbing it 'ridiculous, bobbly and poor'.

The MetLife Stadium in

New Jersey

has come in for criticism throughout this summer's tournament, and once again appeared dry and patchy as Spain took on Argentina on Sunday night.

A number of instances saw stars, including the great

Lionel Messi

, struggle to control the ball as it bobbled along the uneven surface.

And, speaking during

ITV

's half-time coverage of the clash, Wright didn't hold any punches while assessing the venue for the biggest game in the footballing calendar.

He said: 'For a World Cup final this pitch is ridiculous, it's poor, it (the game) shouldn't be on it.

'I think Spain are playing and showing how good they are because even on a bobbly, dry pitch like this, they're doing really good stuff.

Ian Wright has hit out at the state of the World Cup final pitch, dubbing it 'ridiculous, bobbly and poor'

The turf in New Jersey has come in for criticism throughout the tournament

'I think Argentina will stay in it but, for me, Spain are passing it all over the place. It's only a matter of time before they take one of these chances.'

The 80,000-capacity MetLife sits on the outskirts of New York, which was hit by severe thunderstorms causing flooding in the hours ahead of kick-off in the sweltering east coast sunshine.

Yet the pitch had been deemed subpar by players and managers long before it was hit by rainfall.

It predominantly consists of natural grass, but the turf has been installed over an artificial surface underneath which can make it 'dry out' quickly when temperatures soar.

Brazil star Vinicius Jr was one of the stars who took issue with the surface earlier in the tournament, telling reporters after his country's 1-1 draw with Morocco: 'Because of the weather and the heat, the grass dries out quickly and the game ends up being very slow.

'We can't build up a rhythm. That makes things difficult because we want to move the ball from one side to the other and this disrupts our game.'

French coach Didier Deschamps later criticised the venue, saying: 'The pitch in New York was really tough - it took a lot out of the players' muscles.'

Wright's comments came moments before the broadcaster's coverage cut to the highly-anticipated half-time show, which was facilitated by a controversial interval of 30 minutes.

A star-studded half-time show featured performances from Shakira (pictured) and Justin Bieber

It featured a star-studded lineup including performances by Shakira, Burna Boy, Justin Bieber and Madonna - and even cameo appearances from footballing royalty Ronaldinho and Ronaldo.

Madonna kickstarted the performance with her hit 'Music', walking out onto the field with 2002 World Cup winners and Brazilian legends Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.

Bieber was then introduced by Ted Lasso for a short, slow acoustic performance while a montage of the tournament was playing on the big screens around the 80,000-seater stadium.

Shakira later returned and injected some energy into the show before the performance came to an end and the preparation for the second half quickly restarted.

Yet ITV's panel of pundits were left less than impressed by the show - as was Wayne Rooney on the BBC.

Keane said: 'A bit of anti-climax but I think the people in the stadium probably enjoyed it more than us. It was nice to see Shakira.'

Wright added: '(Justin) Bieber should have done something a bit more upbeat to liven us up a bit.'

While Rooney reflected bluntly: 'My favourite bit of the half time show was when it finished… I like all of them artists but I thought it was crap.'

A host of stars flooded to New Jersey for the climax of this summer's tournament.

Before kick-off, Top Gun and Mission Impossible superstar Tom Cruise took to the pitch to give a motivational pre-match speech. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump was pictured sat in his luxury suite next to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

Celebrity couple Timothee Chalament and Kylie Jenner were also snapped in the stands, as were Mick Jagger, Pharrell Williams, Victoria Beckham and Will Ferrell.

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