The proposed European Super League may have exploded within 48 hours of its announcement this week, but for a brief period we were promised a new league filled with footballing superpowers: AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Internazionale, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur.
If it hadn’t been dissolved faster than you could say “this idea is saliva in the face of all football fans,” the competition would have pitted a stellar selection of the continent’s most revered and decorated clubs (and Spurs).
The Super League organizers were banking on the historic stature of the 12 future “founding” clubs of England, Spain and Italy, regularly delivering the kind of thrilling heavyweight slugfests usually reserved for the later stages of the Champions League.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, as is often the case, the reality of the situation probably doesn’t add up to the big sale.
A look at this season’s results between the separatist Premier League, La Liga and Serie A clubs when they face off at the domestic league level shows that, when the big teams face off, the action is not as thrilling as you are. imagine.
The high caliber of names involved would certainly be worthy of the ‘Super’ moniker, but alas, the underlying stats don’t quite live up to that promise.
– Marcotti: Why clubs abandoned their Super League plans
– Hamilton: How fan revolt contributed to Super League collapse
premier league
The meetings between Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur are usually built as epic, gladiatorial clashes, but the truth is they can often be tense and cautious affairs that struggle to deliver much. thrills. .
For example, there have been 27 league games between two “Big Six” teams so far in the 2020-21 season, which combined have put together a relatively meager total of 59 goals:
Man United 0-0 Man City
Man City 0-2 Man United
Man United 1-6 Tottenham
Tottenham 1-3 Man United
Man United 0-1 Arsenal
Arsenal 0-0 Man United
Man United 0-0 Chelsea
Chelsea 0-0 Man United
Liverpool 0-0 Man United
Man City 1-1 Liverpool
Liverpool 1-4 Man City
Chelsea 1-3 Man City
Man City 1-0 Arsenal
Arsenal 0-1 Man City
Man City 3-0 Tottenham
Tottenham 2-0 Man City
Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal
Arsenal 0-3 Liverpool
Liverpool 0-1 Chelsea
Chelsea 0-2 Liverpool
Liverpool 2-1 Tottenham
Tottenham 1-3 Liverpool
Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea
Chelsea 0-0 Tottenham
Tottenham 0-1 Chelsea
Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham
Tottenham 2-0 Arsenal
That’s an average goals-per-game ratio of 2.18, which is considerably lower than the 2020-21 Premier League overall average of 2.67 (854 goals in 320 games at the end of the season. 32nd week).
Of these 27 “Big Six” matches, 6 in total ended in scoreless draws, which represents 22.22% of those matches. That’s much higher than the league’s overall proportion for the 0-0 results this campaign, which stands at just 8.75% (28 scoreless draws out of a total of 320 matches) heading into this season’s matches. weekend.
Five more of the 27 Big Six games produced just one goal, with well over half (16) of those games being limited to just two goals.
There are still three Big Six league fixtures to come before the end of the season: Man United vs Liverpool (May 2), Man City vs Chelsea (May 8) and Chelsea vs Arsenal (May 12).
the league
Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid are the three Spanish clubs that initially embraced the concept of the Super League, led by Real president Florentino Perez. The numbers for domestic league clashes involving two of these teams are slightly more favorable once compared to their England counterparts, although they still do not provide a convincing justification for dismantling the current system.
Barcelone 1-3 Real Madrid
Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelone
Real Madrid 2-0 Atletico
Atletico 1-1 Real Madrid
Atletico 1-0 Barcelone
Spain’s three biggest clubs have scored 12 goals in 5 games this season, an average goals-per-game ratio of 2.4. In contrast, the 318 games that will take place in La Liga so far this campaign have yielded a total of 794 goals, meaning the league as a whole has produced a bit more for its money with an average rate of 2, 49 goals per game.
Only one of the 5 matches between Barca, Real and Atletico ended in a draw (last month’s Madrid derby ended 1-1), meaning none finished. without any goal.
Overall, there have been 26 scoreless draws in La Liga so far in the current campaign, which equates to 8.18% of the total number of matches.
There is still a game between two of the top lines, with Barca set to face Atletico at Camp Nou on May 8 in a clash that could still decide the title.
series A
Andrea Agnelli was the other chief architect of the failed Super League coup. His club, Juventus, were one of three Italian teams to sign up, along with AC Milan and Inter.
These three have only been involved in four Serie A meetings with each other so far this season. Those four encounters, which include two Milan derbies, produced 12 goals with a relatively high average ratio of 3 goals per game. .
Inter 1-2 Milan
Milan 0-3 Inter
Milan 1-3 Juve
Inter 2-0 Juve
However, the overall goals-per-game ratio for Serie A this season is still slightly higher, with 319 games producing 969 goals – an average of 3.04 goals per game at the end of week 32.
Juventus are yet to play both Inter and Milan next month, which means the numbers are doomed to change.
In general terms, despite their somewhat outdated reputation for conservative football, Italy’s top flight have produced considerably fewer scoreless draws than the Premier League and La Liga this season. In fact, only 15 of 319 games ended 0-0, or 4.7% of Serie A’s results this season.
So there you have it – this season has seen the combined domestic league meetings between the Super League “founders” bring in fewer goals than all of their respective league averages.
And just to make matters more damning, the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ – who were originally supposed to make up half of the European Super League’s squads – have resulted in scoreless draws at an almost triple rate. higher for the rest of the division. .
So for all the claims from fans wanting to see more matches between the bigger teams, this season’s results suggest that a Super League by producing more might not be particularly ‘Super’ after all.
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