The longest spells of football teams not being ahead … but tasting glory

“Sheffield Wednesday went 330 (over with injury-time) minutes without being ahead (in normal play and on aggregate) in the playoffs, but managed to get promoted,” writes Colin Richardson. “Has any other team not had a lead in normal play for longer and won a competition?”

We open with Boris Cule and Ed Rostron, who both nominate Portugal’s achievement at Euro 2016: “They famously made it through their group with three draws, before scraping their way to the semis, winning once in extra-time and once on penalties,” recalls Boris. “They did lead until the 50th minute of their first group game against Iceland, but then never led a game until the 117th minute of their last-16 tie with Croatia, a total of 337 minutes without leading (not including injury time).” Ed adds that “Portugal played a total of 720 minutes in the tournament and only spent 73 of them in the lead”.

Stephan Wijnen can raise the bar, albeit only slightly. “I give you PSV Eindhoven, winners of the 1988 European Cup,” he declares. “After beating Galatasaray and Rapid Vienna in the first two rounds, PSV drew the last five games in a row (which was possible because of the away-goals rule): twice in the quarter-finals against Bordeaux (1-1 away, 0-0 home), twice in the semi-finals against Real Madrid (again 1-1 away, 0-0 home), and also in the final against Benfica (0-0, won 6-5 on penalties). That makes 480 minutes plus the injury time of those games.”

Everyone else had better stand aside, though: Burnley and Wolves would like a word. “Colin’s question will surely prompt memories of the 1959-60 season,” notes Andy Wright. “The FA Cup final (the traditional last game of the season) had been played and won by Wolves, who sat top of the league and on the verge