Chapter 847: The Red Terror
All of Manchester United's players rushed toward Bruno.
Although the goal was scored by Scott McTominay, everyone knew perfectly well that it was Bruno's pass that made the chance possible.
In fact, after overcoming a brief slump at the start of the season, the team had been playing more and more smoothly. Both in attack and defense, their performances were improving steadily — and the greatest credit went to Bruno.
All of this only made every United player rally even closer around their captain. Everyone was united, pulling together with one heart and one mind, determined to make a huge impact in the Champions League!
With United leading 7–0, José Mourinho began to make substitutions.
Juan Mata replaced McTominay, Mason Greenwood was moved up to center forward, and Bruno was once again pushed higher up the pitch.
Mourinho did not substitute Bruno — clearly, he wanted him to keep going, perhaps even complete a hat-trick today, surpassing Manchester United legend Andy Cole on the Premier League all-time scoring chart and securing third place outright.
Meanwhile, João Cancelo, Luke Shaw, and Harry Maguire were taken off, replaced by Diogo Dalot, Axel Tuanzebe, and Phil Jones.
With such a big lead, it was normal to give the substitutes — especially the younger players — more minutes to gain experience and "farm" some match practice.
...
After the series of substitutions, Manchester United's attack did lose some of its rhythm.
However, even then, they didn't stop scoring.
In the 82nd minute, Bruno played a pass from the edge of the box. The ball deflected off a defender and fell to the center, where Greenwood was brought down by Jan Bednarek. The referee pointed to the spot and sent Bednarek off.
For the remaining ten minutes or so, Southampton were forced to play with nine men.
Bruno calmly took the penalty, sending goalkeeper Alex McCarthy the wrong way — 8–0!
It was Bruno's third goal of the match, his 188th Premier League goal overall, allowing him to surpass United legend Andy Cole and claim third place on the all-time scoring list!
In stoppage time, United delivered another cross into the box. Bruno flicked the ball on with a header at the far post, and Jude Bellingham finished with an outside-foot strike to make it 9–0.
In the end, Manchester United slaughtered Southampton 9–0 at Old Trafford, achieving another massive victory.
The nine-goal margin was United's biggest win of the season.
At the post-match press conference, Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl admitted dejectedly, "The gap between us and Manchester United is like one being on Earth, the other in the universe."
Although his words were a bit awkward, every reporter understood what he meant — Manchester United had truly become a galactic team, on a completely different level from the rest of the Premier League.
Still, some journalists shook their heads. While what Hasenhüttl said wasn't wrong, such defeatist words were terribly demoralizing.
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In Round 22 of the Premier League, Manchester United's 9–0 demolition of Southampton equaled the record for the largest margin of victory in Premier League history — a record jointly held by United and Leicester City.
It was also the second consecutive season that the Saints had suffered a 9–0 humiliation. Last season, in Round 10, they were crushed 0–9 at home by Leicester City.
There have been only three matches in Premier League history with a margin of nine goals or more — including United's 9–0 win over Ipswich Town in 1995.
Yet despite Southampton's consecutive humiliations, they weren't the team that had suffered the most against Manchester United in recent years.
That dubious honor belonged to Newcastle United — the "Magpies."
Since returning to the Premier League in the summer of 2017, Newcastle had been repeatedly thrashed by United.
In the 2017–2018 season, during Round 12, United destroyed Newcastle 8–1 at home. Bruno scored once and provided four assists, directly contributing to five of the goals.
In the 2019–2020 season, during Round 19 — on Boxing Day — United once again hosted Newcastle, and Bruno recorded a hat-trick in another 8–0 rout.
In Round 5 of the current season, at St. James' Park, Bruno once again delivered a godlike performance, with three goals and two assists, leading United to a 6–1 away victory.
By comparison, Southampton's losses to United had been much less brutal, apart from today's disaster — in most matches, United had only narrowly beaten them.
Moreover, today's blowout was largely due to Southampton being reduced to ten men in the very first minute. Playing almost the entire game one man down made any scoreline possible.
Given the strength gap between the two sides, losing heavily under those circumstances was hardly a surprise.
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Since Mourinho took over Manchester United, the club had not only regained its dominance in the Premier League but also earned a new reputation across Europe — as a ruthless "massacre machine," even threatening to replace Bayern Munich in that role.
The first such rout under Mourinho came in the 2016–2017 season, Round 11, when United crushed Swansea City 5–1 away.
That same season, United produced three more blowouts: a 6–0 away win over West Ham in Round 20, a 5–0 thrashing of Manchester City at the Etihad in Round 26, and a 5–1 demolition of Arsenal in the FA Cup Final.
In addition, United recorded three 4–0 victories — over Liverpool at Anfield in Round 8, Reading in the FA Cup third round, and Wigan Athletic in the fourth round.
The following 2017–2018 season, United set a historic record for the most goals scored by a European club in a single season — 201 goals across all competitions — naturally featuring more massacres. They opened the campaign with a 5–0 win over West Ham, followed by another 5–0 against Swansea, and then an 8–0 rout of Stoke City in Round 4.
By the end of that season, United had won 12 matches by five goals or more, plus another four by 4–0 scorelines.
They scored 121 goals in the Premier League alone, equaling Real Madrid's record for the most goals in a single season among Europe's top five leagues. Their +100 goal difference shattered Madrid's previous record of +89.
In the 2018–2019 season, United's attacking firepower remained ferocious. They had eight matches with five or more goals, and another four finishing 4–0.
Last season, though the pandemic reduced the number of matches and goals, United still produced a series of bloodbaths — seven games with five or more goals, and two more ending 4–0.
Over the years, Europe had come to live under a red terror — all teams trembled at the mere mention of Manchester United.
(END CHAPTER)
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