European Spotlight: Villains from the weekend around Europe's football leagues

They say a moment of brilliance can decide close games, but so can some horrific blunders, moments of madness that tend to change the game for the worse.

Along with its collection of heroes, the game throws up its fair share of villains who did their best to help their team in a losing cause or at worst leave a bad taste in the mouth with their actions.

Here are this week’s candidates:

Sunderland

Sunderland’s English midfielder Lee Cattermole (C) is sent off for a tackle on Hull City’s Egyptian midfielder Ahmed Elmohamady (2nd L) during the English Premier League football match between Hull City and Sunderland at The KC Stadium in Hull on November 2, 2013

Fresh from a confidence and morale boosting victory in an intense, passionate Tyne-Wear derby last week, Sunderland conspired to put in an awful performance on the road against Steve Bruce’s Hull City Tigers.

Sunderland were not just bad, they were poor. They were a little too over-aggressive for comfort and ended up making too many silly errors when in possession.

To rub extra salt into some gaping wounds, the goal that they conceded, which ultimately decided the game was an own goal that came off Carlos Cuellar.

Lee Cattermole then decided to help the team’s cause further by adding +1 to his CV of rash tackles and getting sent off after a second yellow. Not to be left behind, team-mate Andrea Dossena decided to not even wait for two yellows and proceed to a straight red by dishing out a horror tackle that deserved an early bath.

Gus Poyet would have surely hoped for better things after that derby win.