Manchester United beat nine-man Southampton 9-0 on Tuesday to tie the biggest margin of victory in a Premier League match.
It came 15 months after Southampton lost by the same score line at home to Leicester, for the heaviest-ever home defeat.
“Super. Superb,” Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl told the BBC with no small degree of sarcasm when asked how it felt after the match.
“It’s, again, something we have to live with, but today I cannot be that disappointed like the first time.
“It happened again, and it not easy to explain why it happened.”
The visitors were reduced to 10 men after 79 seconds when Alexandre Jankewitz was sent off for a dangerous high challenge on Scott McTominay, which left the United midfielder with stud marks on his thigh.
“One man down after three minutes and then 90 minutes can be very long,” Hasenhüttl said.
“This damages our image now, with this result.
“The guys didn’t deserve it. Everything that happened today was based on a very silly mistake in the beginning from a young player who was playing for the first time in the Premier League.”
Aaron Wan-Bissaka put United ahead in the 18th minute, sliding in at the back post to turn in Luke Shaw’s curling cross.
Marcus Rashford added the second in the 25th minute with a confident first-time finish after good work from Shaw and Mason Greenwood down the left.
A Jan Bednarek own goal, from a low Rashford cross, made it 3-0 before Edinson Cavani headed in the fourth in the 39th minute.
Referee Mike Dean awarded United a penalty when Kayne Ramsay brought down Cavani but VAR ruled the foul had taken place just outside of the box.
Yet the video official worked in United’s favour after the break when Che Adams looked to have pulled one back for the visitors but it was ruled out on review for the tightest of offside margins.
Substitute Anthony Martial blasted in the fifth from a tight angle and McTominay made it 6-0 with a sweet drive from the edge of the box in the 71st.
Bednarek’s miserable night was completed when he was harshly sent off, conceding a penalty when he clipped Martial, but being given the red card after another VAR review.
Bruno Fernandes converted the spot kick before Martial added his second in the final minute of normal time and Dan James made it nine in stoppage time.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side matched its biggest-ever win in the Premier League, having also beaten Ipswich 9-0 in 1995.
United had won by nine goals on three other occasions, all before 1900.
Its record home victory in all competitions was a 10-0 win over Anderlecht in the 1956 European Cup.
United moved level on points with first-place Manchester City, but is behind on goal difference.
Wires/ABC
