One of the novelties that the pandemic has brought to football, and with a view to staying, is the possibility of making five changes per game. A measure called in principle to avoid the excessive effort of the players and that has allowed the coaches to have more influence in the matches. It is evident that having the possibility of changing half of the outfield players is of greater importance.
ia to the substitutes, who seem increasingly decisive. Something that is not only intuited, but also has its reflection in the numbers. In the 568 games that have been played in the First Division after a forced break by the covid
1,344 goals have been scored (not counting those scored at own goal) and 209 of them have been achieved by players coming off the bench
. That represents a percentage of 15.5%, much higher than the 11.9% that occurred in the last decade, from 2010-11 until the stoppage on matchday 27 of 2019-20, when only three substitutions could be made. .
Betis, the most effective
If there is a team that knows how to take advantage of substitutions, that is Betis. In these last two seasons, Pellegrini has shown great success in making the changes.
Of the 60 goals of his team in the league, 18 have been achieved by soft drink players, which represents 30%
. An average that reaches 31.4% if the 11 days after the 2019-20 break are taken into account. Second is the
Sevilla, with 25% of goals from the substitutes (19 of 57), and Granada third (21.4%)
. Leganés (44.4%) and Rayo Vallecano (23.1%) have also taken advantage of their substitutes in the few rounds they have played in that period. On the opposite side are Espanyol, Elche and Celta. The 10 goals in First of the parakeet team have been headlines,
although in Second he did achieve 16.9% (12 of 71), with five goals from Melamed and three from Raúl de Tomas
. For their part, Elche has only scored two of their 38 goals with substitutes (5.2%) and Celta eight of their 77 (10.4%).
Messi’s departure ‘saves’ a Julio Salinas record
With the departure of Messi, Julio Salinas will maintain a record in LaLiga, the one with the most goals scored as a substitute. The Basque scored 28 goals, one more than Messi. Of course, the Argentine only needed 56 games to reach his 27 goals, for the 112 of Salinas. De Paula, Pandiani and Manu Sarabia are the next in a ranking in which Juanmi (20) is the active ‘leader’.
Ancelotti improves Zidane
Among the last three league champions,
Real Madrid is the one that has taken advantage of the changes the least, with 11.1%, by 11.6% for Barça and 20.2% for Atlético after the pandemic
. However, the Whites’ numbers have improved a lot with Ancelotti.
With Zidane only seven of the 86 goals were the work of the substitutes (8.1%),
while with Ancelotti five have already been scored, raising the percentage to 20.2%. In that sense, Simeone has always been very effective when it comes to converting changes into goals.
Counting his entire stage at Atlético, his percentage of so many substitutes is 15.5%
. This season it has 20.2%.
Munir, the most effective
When it comes to players, Munir is the one who has scored the most goals off the bench.
The forward has scored six goals in 19 games (one every 56.6 minutes),
by the five of Vinícius and Borja Iglesias.
Although if we stick to effectiveness, what has been an insurance for Pellegrini is
Canales, who in his four games out of refreshment has scored three goals (one every 25 minutes)
, even improving Messi’s average (three goals in just two games, but scoring a goal every 26 minutes).
Seven teams to zero in 2021-22
In the eight days of this season, there are seven teams that have not yet made a profit on the scoreboard for substitutions.
In Athletic, Cádiz, Alavés, Levante, Granada, Getafe and Espanyol their goals are signed only by the players who started in the starting eleven
. In fact, to find the last goal by an Alavés substitute, you have to go back to April 24, Guidetti’s work at Mestalla. Since then, 11 goals and all from starting players. Real Madrid, with five, is the one with the most goals from substitutes (five of 22),
but the best percentage corresponds to Sevilla, who have achieved four of their nine goals.
Three were the work of Lamela – two against Rayo Vallecano and one against Getafe – and another by Rafa Mir, against Espanyol.
