🏏 Fri, 28 Aug 2026 19:00 CEST
Racing Santander
vs
Elche CF
4-2-3-1 vs 5-4-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Two sides level on a single point meet early in the season. Racing Santander sit 12th (0W-1D-1L, goal difference minus one) and Elche 18th (0W-1D-1L, minus five), but the underlying numbers differ sharply: Racing have scored two and conceded three, while Elche have managed one goal and shipped six in two matches. With Barcelona already on six points at the top, Elche badly need to climb out of the bottom three.
- The opening fortnight told contrasting stories. Racing drew 2-2 at home with Villarreal before losing 0-1 away at Getafe. Elche took a 1-1 draw at Deportivo La Coruna, then were dismantled 0-5 at home by leaders Barcelona. Elche's damage runs deeper, and the first job for the visitors is simply to stop the bleeding at the back.
- Racing, back in the top flight after 14 years, are built around 35-year-old Sergio Canales. A Santander native, he returned to his boyhood club after a career at Real Madrid, Valencia, Real Sociedad, Real Betis and Monterrey, and he takes the penalties, free-kicks and corners. His reading of the game remains the reference point for everything Racing do in the final third.
- The pair either side of Canales drove Racing's promotion. Inigo Vicente, 28 and wearing number 10, produced nine goals and 21 assists in the promotion campaign, and the Athletic Club academy graduate shares set-piece duties with Canales. Andres Martin, 27, a Rayo Vallecano product, was the club's top scorer with 17 goals and is the second penalty taker. Leading the line is 21-year-old Moroccan Yassir Sabiri, on loan from Rennes.
- Racing's 4-2-3-1 meets an Elche side sitting in a 5-4-1. The home double pivot pairs Colombian Gustavo Puerta, 23 and just 172cm, with spells at Bayer Leverkusen, Hull City and Nurnberg behind him, alongside left-footed Ivan Martin, 27, a Villarreal youth product who became Girona's creative hub. Stretching that nine-man block wide enough to feed Canales between the lines is the tactical question.
- Elche's counterpunch comes through 21-year-old attacking midfielder Facundo Buonanotte and 28-year-old Gonzalo Villar. Buonanotte, a left-footed Argentina international, broke through at Brighton and had loan spells with Leicester City and Chelsea, and excels at carrying and threading the final pass. Villar came through Elche's own academy, played Serie A at AS Roma and has returned home. Behind them, Zaragoza-schooled holding midfielder Marc Aguado, 26, does the recovery work.
- Elche's back five spans two footballing generations. Bigas, a 36-year-old left-footed centre-back and long-serving club leader, anchors the middle, while 19-year-old Elche-born right-back Bouba Sangare covers one flank after becoming Levante's youngest ever debutant at 16 and earning a move to AS Roma. Alongside them are Victor Chust, 26, a Real Madrid academy product on loan from Cadiz, and Austrian David Affengruber, 25, a title winner with both Red Bull Salzburg and Sturm Graz.
- The goalkeeping duel spans 14 years. Elche's Mariano Dituro is a 39-year-old, 191cm Argentine who won the Zamora Trophy in Segunda in 2024-25 and helped drive a promotion. Racing counter with 25-year-old Aguirrezabala, a left-footed keeper from Athletic Club's academy who was part of their 2023-24 Copa del Rey winning squad and is comfortable enough with his feet to act as an outlet in build-up.
- Both benches carry late-game weapons. Elche can call on Argentine striker Ezequiel Ponce, 29, who arrived in August 2026 after Roma, Spartak Moscow, AEK Athens and 15 goals in 59 games for Houston Dynamo; Chile international winger Luis Cepeda, 23, who registered 15 goals and eight assists in 72 matches for Colo-Colo; and Grady Diangana, 28, a West Ham academy graduate with more than 200 appearances for West Bromwich Albion. Racing hold 184cm forward Asier Villalibre, 28, in reserve.