FORMER Rangers striker Steven Thompson has recalled how the San Siro felt ‘haunted’ during his surreal experience of behind closed doors football against Inter Milan.
The 41-year-old was part of the Gers side which narrowly lost 1-0 the Serie A giants in September 2005, with the Champions League showdown played in an empty stadium as punishment after crowd trouble marred Inter’s match against AC Milan the previous season.
A deflected David Pizarro strike was enough to secure the win for the hosts, but Thompson - who replaced Hamed Namouchi in the dying embers of the contest - insists the experience was bizarre and far from ideal.
The Scottish Premiership has been given the green light to start in August but is likely to begin in front of deserted stands amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
Thompson recalled: “I played in a behind closed doors match for Rangers against Inter Milan at the San Siro.
“I came on for the last five minutes - as usual during my time there - and it was surreal.
“It was even more strange due to the size of the San Siro and it almost felt haunted.
“You could hear every shout echoing around the stadium. It was so different to what you would want.”
While Thompson reckons class will still shine through on the pitch, he believes the tempo of games will be negatively effected by the lack of punters.
And he is fascinated to see which teams - and players - react best to the unique circumstances.
The St Mirren legend told BBC Sportsound: “The better players are still going to shine but I feel like the fans help to create the tempo of the game
“But the fans are what make the game. There are so many times when there might be a wee lull in the game and the supporters drive you on. You feel that energy willing you on to score and it makes such a difference.
“The most interesting thing for me will be watching how the players get themselves up for it without the fans.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel