Racing Santander vs 28.08.26 17:003 – 2Full Time
Elche — La Liga: stats, lineups & analysis
Match report
Zabiri hat-trick fires Racing Santander past Elche despite late fightback
Racing Santander held off a spirited Elche comeback to win 3-2 at Estadio El Sardinero in a La Liga round three fixture. Mohamed Zabiri's hat-trick inside the first 36 minutes gave the hosts complete control before Elche rallied late without finding an equaliser.
AI-assisted match report written from official match data.
Zabiri opened the scoring in the 15th minute and doubled the lead six minutes later, before adding a third in the 36th minute, assisted by Iñigo Vicente, to put Racing 3-0 up at half-time. Elche's response came only in the closing stages, with Buba Sangaré converting a Lucas Cepeda assist in the 78th minute and Fer Niño following up a minute later, set up by Tete Morente, to make it 3-2.
Despite Elche seeing more of the ball, with 60% possession and 17 shots to Racing's 13, the visitors could not complete the turnaround. Racing's clinical finishing in the first half proved decisive, with the hosts recording 1.5 expected goals compared to Elche's 0.99, reflecting the quality of their early chances.
Zabiri scored all three of Racing Santander's goals in the first half, earning a perfect rating of 10.0 for his hat-trick display.
Elche's 60% share of possession told only part of the story, as Racing's superior first-half finishing ultimately decided the contest.
Racing Santander beat Elche 3–2 (half-time 3–0).
Racing Santander met Elche in the La Liga (Regular Season - 3). Kick-off was Friday, 28 August 2026, 17:00 UTC at Estadio El Sardinero. Referee: Carlos Muniz Munoz.
Team pages: Racing Santander · Elche · La Liga
Key moments
- 15' Goal: Yassir Zabiri — 1–0 · Watch Yassir Zabiri's goal video (15')
- 21' Goal: Yassir Zabiri — 2–0 · Watch Yassir Zabiri's goal video (21')
- 36' Goal: Yassir Zabiri (assist: Iñigo Vicente) — 3–0 · Watch Yassir Zabiri's goal video (36')
- 78' Goal: Buba Sangaré (assist: Lucas Cepeda) — 3–1 · Watch Buba Sangaré's goal video (78')
- 79' Goal: Fer Niño (assist: Tete Morente) — 3–2 · Watch Fer Niño's goal video (79')
Starting line-ups
Racing Santander (4-2-3-1)
Elche (5-4-1)
Sirius · Why these numbers
Before kick-off Sirius gave Racing Santander 40%, the draw 27%, Elche 33%. It finished Racing Santander 3–2 Elche.
Home ground outweighs Elche's rating edge — Elche are the stronger side on our strength rating, but La Liga home advantage gives Racing Santander the lean. The draw at 27% is held down by a high-scoring environment.
Why Racing Santander at 40%?
Home ground, against the rating. Elche sit 97 points higher on our strength rating — 1653 to 1751. Sides with a 50–100-point rating edge on the road won 32.9% of 10,546 such games. La Liga home sides out-perform the global norm — and the difference mostly flows to away wins (28.3% vs 30.2%). La Liga homes won 46.6% of 6,100 games vs 44.9% across all 99,436 — outside the noise band, so the tally moves accordingly.
Why only 40%?
Because Elche are the stronger side on our strength rating. Both sides are inside their first six league games — home wins land softer this early in the season, so this trims Racing Santander's column. Across 10,741 opening-stretch games since 2010, home sides won 42.8% where the rating map expected 44.9%, with draws up 2.1 — negative in every season since 2018. Racing Santander scored +0.66 goals per game beyond chance-quality — home sides this hot gave some of it back. Opponents of hot-finishing home sides won 28.6% of 1,471 games, vs 27.9% against normal finishing.
Why the draw at 27%?
With a rating gap this size the draw starts at 28.3%. These teams' recent games average 3.2 goals — a high-scoring environment. Games in that environment drew 22.8% of 17,018. The goals environment takes 2.4 points off the draw. Early-season fixtures add 2.1 points to the draw.
What did we measure but not count?
Racing Santander are newly promoted — game 3 of their first ten at this level, where our rating knows them least. Promoted sides ran below their rating in nine of the last ten seasons — 26.5% wins in their first ten games where the rating expected 30.0% (2,793 games since 2012), fading but still visible through game nineteen. Racing Santander are missing 2 regular starters — Manu Hernando, Giorgi Guliashvili — about 16% of their usual starting-XI weight. A body count alone told us nothing.
Sirius probabilities, frozen at kick-off. Analysis, not betting advice. How Sirius is doing this season · Full breakdown, evidence cards and squad news in the Match Insights tab
About this match
On this page: the Racing Santander vs Elche final score and result, goal highlights and video clips of every goal, who scored, starting lineups, match stats and the full match report from this La Liga fixture.
- Who scored and when — a goal-by-goal timeline of the match.
- Match stats — possession, shots, expected goals (xG), corners and cards.
- Starting lineups and player ratings for both teams.
- Head-to-head record and recent form for both sides.
- Watch Yassir Zabiri's goal against Elche (15').
- Watch Yassir Zabiri's goal against Elche (21').
- Watch Yassir Zabiri's goal against Elche (36').
- Watch Buba Sangaré's goal against Racing Santander (78').
- Watch Fer Niño's goal against Racing Santander (79').
Watch the goals: goal highlights and video clips of every goal from Racing Santander 3–2 Elche. Explore more on the Racing Santander and Elche team pages or the La Liga page.