Why Schalke vs Hansa’s first half ran beyond the 78th minute

A long afternoon to say the least

The away side secured a vital 2-0 win against Hansa to move eight points clear of the relegation places.

Hansa were also reduced to 10 men when Júnior Brumado was dismissed shortly before half time.

But the final score and sending off weren't the main talking point, with many people pointing out the ridiculous amount of injury time added on.

An image of the clock was shared on X with the caption: "Don’t know to explain this but this is actually still the first half."

YouTuber and Schalke fan Ciarán Carlin explained the reason why there was so much stoppage time, saying: "Game stopped on 38 mins for like almost half an hour due to us and Hansa fans breaking some glass wall between them, and I think shooting fireworks (or something that makes a loud bang at least) at each other.

"Clock kept going, the game resumed, Hansa got a VAR red card immediately and now we’ve got 5 mins injury time haha desperate to score to see the first ever 80th-minute first-half goal."

While it's a lot it's still not the record for the longest game in history.

Back in 1946, a game between Stockport County and Doncaster Rovers lasted for three hours and 23 minutes.

Having been tied at 2-2 after 90 minutes, the game between the pair went into extra time, but 30 more minutes saw no goals.

Before penalty shootouts were used to determine the final outcome other methods such as tossing a coin and, playing until there's a winner were a way of finding a winner.

In that case the latter was used before Doncaster went on to win a replay 4-0.

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