Last night’s Copa Libertadores wasn’t much of an advertisement for Brazilian football (something I’m sure supporters of Palmeiras aren’t worrying about this morning), but what was amazing was how an injury time that saw a manger sent off and sensational last gasp winner seemed so tedious.
Going back and timing the game shows that although there were officially 8 minutes of extra time, the match lasted an additional 14 minutes. However the ball was only in play for 2 minutes 42 seconds.
This means that the ball was in play roughly for 20% of the time, which is incredibly low by any standards. Analysis of European leagues from the CIES Football Observatory suggest a typical Champions league has the ball in play for 60% of the time, while the Portuguese League had the lowest percentage (50.9%).
While some of this may be down to the heat and player tiredness, it was just one of those games that descended into absurdity, something that can happen in any league, or any local park, around the world. It was just a shame it had to be in one of the biggest games of the season.
Sport.dat 