Heart Of Football

All that glitters in an empty Rijeka stadium is Sancho

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If you wanted to strip European football of its worldwide appeal, you would first remove spectators from the stadium, then serve up a goalless, soulless match in which if the players cared about anything, it was keeping a "clean sheet".

That happened in Rijeka on Croatia's Adriatic coast on Friday night.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on October 14, 2018, with the headline All that glitters in an empty Rijeka stadium is Sancho. Subscribe