It was so eerie... we heard every echo
AS EMPTY STADIUM AWAITS, WHAT CAN ENGLAND EXPECT
England will run out to the sound of silence in Rijeka tomorrow night for the first time in their 988th senior international.
They will play Croatia behind closed doors in the nations league because of sanctions imposed on their hosts after repeated instances of crowd trouble and racism.
It is believed England boss gareth Southgate has warned his players to be careful what they say as every word will be picked up by the TV cameras without the background noise of fans.
Southgate has also asked his squad to study a behind-closeddoors game between Barcelona and las Palmas from last year, and he took in the lyon fixture against Shakhtar donetsk in the Champions league last week.
Here, Sportsmail recalls some of the most memorable games from which supporters were excluded…
WEST HAM 5 CASTILLA 1 (AET), UPTON PARK, OCTOBER 1, 1980
WEST Ham’S return to European football was overshadowed by violence in the first leg of their Cup-Winners’ Cup tie away against Real madrid’s reserve side ‘Castilla’ in the Bernabeu. Riots broke out between supporters in the stands and a West Ham fan was killed when he was hit by a bus in the Spanish capital.
West Ham, who trailed 3-1 from the first leg, feared being banned from the competition. Striker david Cross, who scored the away goal and another three in the return, recalls: ‘UEFa were weighing up punishments. It seemed the game would be played in France and they even considered making us play the home tie at Roker Park in Sunderland to keep the fans away. In the end, we played at Upton Park behind closed doors. We had no family or friends there. Only the officials, players, staff and media required for the match.
‘The game itself was eerie. It was like walking into an empty house when you thought people should be home. you could hear the echo from every shout by team-mates. But we got used to it and the intensity was good. I scored two goals in extra time to win it.’
Cross’s treble remains West Ham’s only hat-trick in European competition but only 262 people were in the stadium to witness it. ‘I still have a signed programme and the match ball,’ Cross says.
ASTON VILLA 3 BESIKTAS 1 VILLA PARK, SEPTEMBER 15, 1982
VIlla began their defence of the European Cup in front of a reported 167 people after they were punished for crowd trouble that had taken place against anderlecht during the previous campaign.
Peter Withe, Tony morley and captain dennis mortimer scored for Villa against Besiktas, with
Sportsmail describing the atmosphere as ‘silence shattered only by a television helicopter hovering overhead.’
Only the press and members of the two clubs’ administration staff were allowed to attend, making for powerful images of an empty Holte End as Villa’s European heroes sought to begin their defence in style.y
CSKA MOSCOW 2 MAN CITY 2 KHIMKI ARENA, OCTOBER 21, 2014
CITy were perplexed and angry when hundreds of beer-fuelled muscovites found their way into the stadium despite being barred owing to instances of racial abuse.
City supporters, banned from attending through no fault of their own, were aghast to see TV pictures of moscow fans jumping up and down in the main stand and creating an almighty din as their side came from 2-0 down against manuel Pellegrini’s team. While UEFa had banned supporters, they do remain faithful to agreements with their partners and sponsors and it is thought that those tickets found their way on to the open market for CSKa fans to get into the stadium.
City’sy mood was not improvedp by y the sight of the club store being open for home fans before the game. They were similarly unimpressed when the Russians failed to honour the tradition of providing the away team with carbohydrate-heavy meals after the game. Instead of the usual selection of pasta and pizza, the Russians provided only a small amount of fruit for City’s players for the journey home.
Still, some City fans managed to get creative by renting a flat that overlooked the Khimki arena and had a modest view of the action.
CLUB BRUGES 0 NAPOLI 1 JAN BREYDEL STADIUM, NOVEMBER 26, 2015
THE additional policing required for this Europa league fixture, shortly after attacks on Paris and news that the assailants came from Brussels, was deemed to be beyond the Belgian police, so the game was played behind closed doors. England midfielder nathaniel Chalobah, part of tomorrow night’s squad, made his first start for napoli under maurizio Sarri that night. PS THE REaSOnS for matches being played behind closed doors are diverse but surely the most strange saw a game between Club america and Tecos in mexico City played to the sound of silence in april 2009. The authorities sought to protect the public as mexico was in the grip of a deadly outbreak of the swine flu virus.