Racing led 2-0 on their return to La Liga, and Villarreal wiped it out in a minute
Racing Santander were two goals up on their first day back in the Spanish top flight since 2012. Villarreal took it all back either side of half-time, both from outside the box.
Aug 17, 2026
El Sardinero waited fourteen years for a La Liga match and got a two-goal lead inside 34 minutes. Racing Santander, up from the second division in May, were beating a Villarreal side that finished third in Spain last season and is back in the Champions League. Then Pape Gueye hit one from 31 yards on the stroke of half-time, Nicolas Pepe hit another from 23 a minute later, and Racing walked off level.
It finished 2-2 on Sunday, and both sides start the season with a point.
Fourteen years, and most of them spent a long way down
Racing were last a top-flight club in 2011-12. They went down that summer, went down again the following season, and then spent seven separate campaigns in the Spanish third tier. Getting out took until May this year, when they won the Segunda Division with 82 points, five clear of Deportivo La Coruna, and sealed it with a 4-1 win over Real Valladolid.
Sergio Canales is part of the reason the return has felt like a story rather than a fixture. He is from Santander, came through the club’s academy, played his first senior match at 17 in the UEFA Cup in 2008, and left for Real Madrid in 2010 after 39 appearances. He came back this summer on a free transfer from Monterrey at 35, on a deal that runs to the end of next season. Jose Alberto Lopez started him in attacking midfield on Sunday.
Three of the four goals came from outside the box
Andres Martin put Racing in front on 21 minutes from the penalty spot, given after Santi Comesana was judged to have caught Jorge Salinas just inside the area. Martin took it with his left foot.
The second was better. Sergio Martinez picked the ball up 26 yards out and struck it right-footed into the top corner, a shot worth 0.08 expected goals that arrived on target at four times that value. Racing finished the night with 41 per cent of the ball. For eleven minutes of it they were two goals up.
Villarreal’s reply took a little over a minute. Gueye tried his luck from 31 yards with his left foot and found the bottom corner on 45 minutes. Pepe cut in and lifted a left-footed shot into the top corner from 23 yards in first-half stoppage time. Neither was a chance in any meaningful sense. Between them they were worth 0.06 expected goals.
Inigo Perez took a point on his first day
Villarreal have a new manager. Inigo Perez, 38, arrived from Rayo Vallecano in June on a three-year deal, replacing Marcelino Garcia Toral, who had taken the club to third and back-to-back Champions League qualifications before the two sides failed to agree terms on a renewal. Perez had just taken Rayo to a Conference League final they lost to Crystal Palace.
His first competitive team had 59 per cent of the ball, won ten corners to Racing’s six, and put seven shots on target to Racing’s three. Georges Mikautadze had four attempts and did not score. Villarreal’s clearest opening after the break came in the 54th minute, an 18-yard shot that Racing’s goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala pushed away. Agirrezabala made five saves in all, two more than his opposite number.
Villarreal had the better of the second half and did not win it. Racing had the better of the first and did not win it either. A point each, and Espanyol, Alaves and Sevilla go into the week as the only teams in Spain with three.