TEAMS like Barcelona or Bayern Munich might dominate the beautiful game, but new research carried out in the North-East has quashed the myth they tire the opposition by keeping the ball.

For years, coaches, pundits and fans believed teams should "let the ball do the work" because the other team will have to run further to regain possession.

This is believed to enable world-class players to tire their opponents out and help them conserve their energy.

However, research from Sunderland University shows they cover the same distances whether teams have the ball or not. The research is to be published in the Journal of Sports Sciences.

Academics looked at 810 English Premier League players in 54 matches using a computerised tracking system.

Each player's physical and technical performance was recorded, including how far they ran, the varying levels of intensity and how many passes they made.

The research has quashed the myth that if you pass the ball more often than the opposition then you would conserve energy, tiring them out while doing so.

They found that no differences were observed for total distance covered by football teams with low percentage of ball possession and those who had the ball more often. This trend continued when it came to high intensity running and sprinting.

This research also comes at the end of the 2012/13 season when Celtic famously beat the Champions League favourites Barcelona despite only having 16 per cent of ball possession.

Research showed running with the ball at a high-intensity was 31 per cent more by teams with a high percentage of possession than those with a low percentage.

In contrast, those teams with a high percentage of possession ran 22 per cent less at a high-intensity than those with a low percentage when they did not have the ball.

Dr Paul Bradley, a senior lecturer in sport science, said: "We didn't find any statistical difference in their physical exertions during the game.

"We always thought that there was truth in the old adage of 'let the ball do the work' and let the other team chase after it, but it's quite clearly not backed up by the facts. There's less than one per cent difference between high and low percentage of possession football teams."

The research is in the Journal of Sports Sciences.