In the modern game, a 9-0 scoreline is something of a rarity. A great source of embarrassment for the losing side, such a result sends shockwaves around the world of football for a short time. Invariably, the red-faced team will be shook to the core and dramatically tighten up their defence in the following match, meaning the matter is quickly forgotten.
Leicester beat Southampton 9-0 in October 2019 and the Saints followed up that humiliation by narrowly losing 2-1 against Manchester City. Similarly, Spurs thumped Wigan Athletic by the almost as shocking score of 9-1 back in November 2009. The Latics won their next game 1-0 against Sunderland!
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Last night the football world was stunned to witness Southampton concede nine goals for a second time in consecutive seasons. The south coast club fell to a 9-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester United, who were aided in no small part by having the numerical advantage for most of the game.
Discussion immediately turned to similar results. United have beaten Ipswich by the same score in 1995 and Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 9-0 in 1989. There was no mention of a recent 9-0 demolition, which took place at Celtic Park, though.
The game I refer to is when Celtic beat Aberdeen 9-0 at Paradise on 6 November 2010.
The match got off to a steady start but burst into life when Stokes scored a penalty in the 26th minute. Gary Hooper then bagged a brace inside ten minutes of that opening goal, before Stokes scored his second penalty in stoppage time at the end of the first half.
The second 45 began in similar vein. Action was uneventful until the 61st minute, when Magennis scored an own goal and that incident sparked another scoring spree as Hooper completed his hat trick two minutes later, before Joe Ledley scored in the 71st minute and Stokes completed a hat trick of his own on 74 minutes.
Paddy McCourt rounded off proceedings with an 85th minute penalty.
