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Story highlights
Southampton thrashes Sunderland 8-0 in the English Premier League
Extraordinary own goal by Santiago Vergini starts the rout
Bayern Munich hits Werder Bremen for six to top the Bundesliga
Cristiano Ronaldo double in Real Madrid's 5-0 win over Levante
Santiago Vergini’s 12th minute volley flashed past the goalkeeper to open the scoring in the English Premier League match at St Mary’s between Southampton and Sunderland.
The only problem for Sunderland’s Argentine defender was that his perfectly struck effort found his own net.
It was to get worse for the Black Cats and manager Gus Poyet and by the end of the afternoon keeper Vito Mannone had been beaten eight times with no reply from the visitors.
The 8-0 reverse was one short of the record defeat in the EPL, Manchester United’s 9-0 rout of Ipswich in 1995 and left Poyet perplexed.
“I’ve never felt as bad on a football pitch, as a player or as a coach, as I do today. Even as a fan I’ve never felt this way, it’s embarrassing and unacceptable, I’m really hurt.,” the Uruguayan told Sunderland’s official website.
Ironically, Sunderland had started brightly until Vergini’s attempted clearance whistled past Mannone, Poyet left baffled by the freak nature of the own goal.
“We started off well, we were aggressive – we passed the ball well and then we conceded one of the most difficult goals to try and explain,” he added.
Vergini was also at fault as he allowed Steven Davis to break clear and cross for Graziano Pelle to tap in from close range for the second.
It was the start of a capitulation and by end of the match new Italian international Pelle had scored twice, there was another own goal from Liam Bridcutt and Saints summer signing Dusan Tadic had set up four more and also got on the score sheet himself.
The victory leaves Ronald Koeman’s team in third with seven wins in eight in all competitions.
Dutchman Koeman was named EPL manager of the month ahead of the match but Sunderland has just a single win and hover above the drop zone.
Chelsea stays top
Chelsea remains top after a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace with Oscar and Cesc Fabregas scoring early in each half before Fraizer Campbell pulled one back in added time at the end of the match.
Both teams ended with 10 men after having men sent off late in the first half, Cesar Azpilicueta for Chelsea and Damien Delaney for the home side.
Champion Manchester City is five points adrift in second spot after a 4-1 home win over Tottenham Hotspur in another extraordinary encounter.
Read: ‘World leading’ Aguero sparks rout
Sergio Aguero scored all four goals for City but also missed one of the four penalties awarded by referee Jonathan Moss.
City were leading 2-1 when Roberto Soldado saw his effort from the spot for the visitors saved by Joe Hart and it proved a turning point.
Aguero was pulled back by Federico Fazio, making his debut for Spurs, with the Argentine shown red. Aguero duly scored from the penalty and then rounded off the afternoon by beating Hugo Lloris for his fourth.
Bayern hits six
The goals also flowed in the Bundesliga with reigning champion Bayern Munich leading the way in a 6-0 rout of bottom side Werder Bremen.
Defender Philipp Lahm started the scoring and later hit a second, his first double for the Bavarian giants in 321 top-flight games.
A packed Allianz Arena also saw Xabi Alonso net his first for his new club, with Mario Gotze (2) and Thomas Muller also on target.
It left Bayern on 20 points from eight games, four clear of Borussia Moenchengladbach, who won 3-0 at Hanover.
But Bayern’s traditional rival Borussia Dortmund went down 2-1 defeat at Cologne and trail the leaders by 13 points.
Ronaldo double
European champion Real Madrid also recorded a one-sided victory over Levante, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring twice in a 5-0 romp.
The first from the penalty spot set Real on its way in the Bernabeu before Javier Hernandez headed home to double the lead before half-time.
Ronaldo notched his 15th La Liga goal in just seven appearances this season to make it 3-0 before summer signing James Rodriguez and Isco completed a seventh straight win for Real.
It leaves them four points adrift of Barcelona, who beat minnows Eibar in a later kickoff Saturday.
It took an hour for Barca to break through in the Nou Camp with Xavi on target after being set up by Lionel Messi. Neymar scored the second with Messi completing the scoring with his 250th goal in La Liga.
He is now just one shy of the all-time record by former Athletic Bilbao forward Telmo Zarra.
