Norwich are something of an outlier, however, placing 11th for 'ball in play' despite having propped up the Premier League table for much of this season. It will hardly be a surprise to learn that the league's best teams have the ball in play more than those who are fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table.

This season's ball in play average is the lowest the Premier League has seen since 2010-11. To enjoy Newsround at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on. In this season's Premier League, the average 'ball in play' time is 55 minutes and three seconds - the lowest it has been in over a decade.īBC Sport - using Opta data - looks at some of the ball in play stats to see how each team performs. Other sports like basketball and American football use a stop-clock, and it's a straightforward concept: essentially, the clock is stopped whenever the ball is not in play, for incidents including injuries, substitutions and the referee dishing out cautions.įootball's law-making body the International Football Association Board (Ifab) has previously looked into the possibility of introducing a stop-clock. Writing in the Daily Mailexternal-link, former referee Mark Clattenburg suggested football introducing 60-minute matches with a stop-clock to eradicate gamesmanship. While some have eulogised Real after another stunning fightback, others have used the latter stages of the game to debate the rules around the ball being in play. However, referee Daniele Orsato had added just three minutes to the second period of extra time, and then blew his whistle with 10 seconds remaining, just when City keeper Ederson was about to boot the ball up the pitch. Having forced extra-time with Rodrygo's stunning late double before edging ahead in the tie through Karim Benzema's penalty, Real did what most teams would do: they ran down the clock with a masterful exhibition of game management. Real Madrid's comeback win over Manchester City was one of the most dramatic games in Champions League history - but it was not without controversy. Referee Daniele Orsato added three minutes on at the end of extra-time in Real Madrid's win over Manchester City - but blew his whistle with 10 seconds remaining

When does the clock stop in football