Crystal Palace midfielder Luka Milivojevic has revealed he thinks that it will be more difficult to score penalties in empty stadiums as the fans help to give him focus.
Milivojevic is currently preparing for the return of the Premier League, with the league planning to restart initially on 17th June, before a full round of games takes place on the weekend of 20th June.
Games will be played behind closed doors and the situation could even persist into the start of the 2020/21 campaign.
The Serbian midfielder has revealed when the stadium is packed and full of fans it puts him under pressure, which in turn helps him to focus, and went on to add he would prefer to take a penalty in a packed stadium rather an empty one.
Milivojevic stressed it will be hard for him to maintain the same the kind of quality in an empty stadium and he insists supporters in the stadium push a player to perform better.
“I haven’t taken a penalty in an empty stadium but I believe it’s much harder to shoot without people because when you have people in the stadium there is a lot of pressure but that gives you focus”, Milivojevic was quoted as saying by Crystal Palace's official site.
“If you don’t have that pressure, maybe you lose your focus, you relax a little bit and then in the end if you miss, nobody will go ‘aargh’.
“There will be no reaction from the crowd. “It will be very hard to keep the same quality.
“People in the stadium, they push you, when you go for a counter-attack, they are screaming, they are loud, they push you to go forward.”
Milivojevic has made 23 Premier League appearances this season for Crystal Palace, scoring two goals and registering one assist.
