SAINTS midfielder Oriol Romeu admitted football becomes “less emotional” without supporters and added: “We’d love to have fans back as soon as possible.”

The Spanish star struck home a sensational volley at home against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, paving the way for the St Mary’s side to seal a 2-0 victory.

But having recorded his first goal since February 2019, the midfielder was left to celebrate in front of no fans due to COVID-19 restrictions put on elite sporting stadia.

No supporters have been permitted to enter St Mary’s since the coronavirus pandemic escalated in March. Pilot testing for fans to return has also been halted.

Speaking about playing in front of no supporters, Romeu said: “It becomes less emotional I would say.

“When some games are really nice to play because the last 20 or 30 minutes, the fans really pushed you or they really helped you to get there or to get that extra energy that you didn’t have in your legs, that’s not there anymore.

“It’s something that’s going to change of course and it’s not nice but hopefully it is for the better in six months and we have to wait.

“We will have to see how things go and how we develop everything, we get everything under control.

“But we as players, we’d love to have fans back as soon as possible.”

Saints most recent home game in front of a home crowd came against Newcastle in the Premier League on March 7.