Espanyol and the myth of the addition

“The feeling is that in Cornellà the matches are stretched when we win”. The phrase was from Vicente Moreno on Sunday night, after drawing 2-2 in the 97th minute of the game against Barça. The referee added six minutes and later extended one more for what was lost in the same extra time. And then came Luuk de Jong’s goal. The same thing happened on matchday four against Atlético. Ten. Yes, ten minutes of extensionwhich earned Atlético to settle the match with a definitive 1-2.

Moreno’s words had an emotional basis that all those present at the RCDE Stadium felt and that the Espanyol fans have appreciated at specific moments of the season, but that, subsequently, the numbers have not supported. The initial minutes of extra time have the same average without being related to the result, and in the case of Espanyol they are five minutes and 30 seconds as a rule.

The Blue and Whites have been winning in the 90th minute in eight games. The least added was three minutes against Cádiz in Cornellà (2-0) and the greatest against Levante with a tight 4-3, when the referee indicated eight minutes too many. The derby match was the only match in which Espanyol tied when they were winning before 90. They lost two points.

In the other context, when the parakeet team needs more time because they are behind on the scoreboard, the average is also curiously situated at five minutes and 30 seconds. The shortest and longest extension, three and eight minutes respectively, occurred against Betis. Although the match was doomed at the RCDE Stadium (1-4), Espanyol took advantage of that extra time to equalize with a goal from Leandro Cabrera in Seville (2-2).

There is another figure in which the benefit depends on the rival and the type of match, and where the average is five minutes and 36 seconds. It’s the tie. Espanyol lost a point on the day of Atlético, the record with ten minutes (1-2), and remained the same against Cádiz (it went from 1-1 to 2-2). For this reason, there are no dysfunctions in added time as a general rule, regardless of what is really lost in each match, which is never identical to what each school decides as added time.