Madrid-based football journalist Sid Lowe brought a very simple realization to our attention while covering the Real Mardid vs. Legia Warsaw UEFA Champions League match last week. The 3-3 draw was played out behind closed doors in Poland after Legia fans had been found guilty of a myriad of crowd disturbances during their match against Borussia Dortmund.
The match featured some thumping finishes from Gareth Bale, Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe and Thibault Moulin. Those strikes led Lowe to this observation:
One of the things an empty-stadium game on Telly does is give you an appreciation of how hard the ball is and how hard they hit it
— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) November 2, 2016
It’s a pretty obvious statement, but it’s so true. On Monday, we were given another example of this fact during a match between Gremio and Sport Recife in the Brasileiro. With Gremio’s Arena do Gremio holding 55,662 and the club stuck at mid-table, a sparse crowd watched the home side lose 3-0.
Sport Recife’s Diego Souza, who’s been capped twice by Brazil, scored this sensational volley which reverberated around the stadium. Turn those speakers up to hear the sweetest sound in all of football.
It’s a bang. It’s a boom. It’s a crack. It’s a fine example of onomatopoeia in action. That, for us, is the finest sound in the world.
