🏏 Sun, 16 Aug 2026 17:00 CEST
Racing Santander
vs
Villarreal CF
4-2-3-1 vs 4-4-2
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- La Liga's opening weekend brings Racing Santander back to the top flight, and their first assignment is Villarreal at home. Racing line up 4-2-3-1 against a 4-4-2 with two strikers, so the hosts have a numerical edge in central midfield while Villarreal can press with a front pair. How quickly Racing's double pivot can play through that first line will shape the opening half hour.
- Sergio Canales, 35 and a Santander native, takes the No. 10 role for the hosts. The 176cm playmaker has worn the shirts of Real Madrid, Valencia, Real Sociedad, Real Betis and Monterrey, and now opens a La Liga campaign for his hometown club wearing number 20. Iñigo Vicente (28) and Andrés Martín (27) flank him in a band of three built on close control rather than raw power.
- Villarreal's strike partnership pairs Georges Mikautadze (25, Georgia) with Ayoze Pérez (33). Mikautadze, a 176cm finisher who arrived via Lyon, Metz and Ajax, was in the running for the Golden Boot at EURO 2024 and thrives on runs in behind. Ayoze brings Newcastle and Leicester mileage plus a first season at Villarreal in which he top-scored for the club with 19 goals.
- The midfield duel sets technique against physique. Racing pair the 172cm Gustavo Puerta (23, Colombia), whose CV includes Bayer Leverkusen and Hull City, with Sergio Martínez in a double pivot. Villarreal counter with 188cm Santi Comesaña, who made 219 appearances across seven seasons at Rayo Vallecano, and the 189cm left-footed Pape Gueye, a Senegal international with Marseille and Sevilla behind him.
- Nicolas Pépé (31, Ivory Coast) is one of Villarreal's wide men and remains a genuine one-v-one threat, cutting inside onto his left foot. He joined Arsenal for a club-record €80m earlier in his career, and now faces a Racing flank staffed by 26-year-old Álvaro Mantilla and 19-year-old local product Jorge Salinas, comfortably the biggest gap in experience anywhere on the pitch.
- Racing's bench holds a reunion story: Juan Carlos Arana, a 178cm forward who spent time at Eibar and Villarreal before moving to Santander, faces his former club. Alongside him among the potential game-changers are Morocco-born Yassir Sabiri (21), previously with UTS Rabat and Rennes, and 193cm Uruguayan defender Facundo González (23), developed at Juventus and Feyenoord.
- Villarreal's back line is organised by Renato Veiga (25, Portugal), signed from Chelsea for a club-record fee and comfortable at centre-back, left-back or in midfield thanks to his left-footed long passing. Sofiane Mourinho (24), who came through Atlético Madrid before spells at Alavés and Real Zaragoza, starts at right-back, with 194cm Brazilian Luiz Júnior — the most expensive goalkeeper in Villarreal's history — behind them.
- Asier Villalibre leads the Racing line at 28 and 184cm, a physical presence shaped by spells at Athletic Bilbao, Alavés and Numancia. His link-up with Iñigo Vicente, another former Athletic man, is central to how the hosts create. Behind them, 186cm Pablo Ramón (25), who has played for Mirandés and Espanyol, is the reference point in aerial duels.
- Villarreal keep serious firepower in reserve. Captain Gerard Moreno, 34, has scored more than 120 La Liga goals and was pivotal in the club's Europa League triumph, and his left foot is still the most reliable finish in the squad. Canada's Tajon Buchanan (27, ex-Inter and Club Brugge) and 22-year-old Manchester United-schooled centre-back Willy Kambwala give the visitors options in both directions late on.