Sergio Martínez’s strike sparks emotional 2-2 draw as Racing Santander return to La Liga
Sergio Martínez’s spectacular goal helped Racing Santander earn a 2-2 draw with Villarreal at El Sardinero on Sunday afternoon in the club’s first top-flight match since 2012, a fixture watched by 22,413 supporters.
Racing, one of the founder members of Spain’s first division, had endured a decade-long fall from the top flight that included further relegation and lengthy spells in Segunda B. Financial collapse followed: debts exceeded €40m, €14m was owed to the state, the club filed for bankruptcy in July 2011 and two presidents, Francisco Pernía and Ángel Lavín, later received jail sentences for embezzlement. Ahsan Ali Syed (referred to as “Mr Ali”) spent €3.5m on a buyout before disappearing; he was wanted by Interpol and arrested almost a decade later for fraud.
Andrés Martín opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Sergio, a 19-year-old who has been at the club for half his life, made it 2-0 in the 34th minute. The match was only Sergio’s third start ever and his first in the Primera; the report notes he had climbed into the stand to hug his grandad the day he played his first game for Racing and that, after his strike, he ran to the corner holding the badge he has worn since he was 10. The strike was described as flashing past at 126km an hour and 14 years a second.
Álvaro Mantilla, Racing’s captain, reacted to the moment with an exacting appraisal: “The poor kid couldn’t believe what had happened; none of us could have if we’d just done what he had just done,” said Mantilla. Mantilla was born and raised 5km away and it was his first top-division game, as it was for team-mate Jorge Salinas, another 19-year-old from Santander. Sergio Canales, who last played at El Sardinero 16 years earlier as an academy player and is now 35, returned to the club and said: “It was … strange. I can’t quite assimilate this still. I could feel the hairs standing on end. Above all, what I feel is gratitude.”
Racing’s control lasted into the second half but unravelled in a matter of seconds: in 67 seconds Pape Gueye and Nicholas Pépé struck to level the match. José Alberto López, Racing’s coach, called the turnaround a reminder of what the first division is, how unforgiving it can be. Villarreal coach Iñigo Pérez offered two comments in the aftermath: “The energy was unstoppable,” he admitted, and added, “I loved it. I’m so happy to come here and see all the emotion and the excitement. This is a joy for anyone who comes.”
The club’s recovery off the pitch helped make the return possible. Manolo Higuera intervened in 2015 and, after a period of restructuring, persuaded Sebastián Ceria to invest in the summer; Ceria is described in the report as a social democrat Argentinian philanthropist with a PhD in mathematics from Carnegie, a professor at Columbia who had just sold his company for $850m, and whose wife Alicia Zorrilla is from Cantabria. Ceria bought a controlling stake for €30m, and in December 2024 the final administration payments were met, clearing debts 13 years after bankruptcy. Ceria said football was “democratising,” and he and Higuera watched the game together from the stand at El Sardinero.
José Alberto López, who took charge in December 2022 after Racing had been promoted that year, secured the club’s survival before guiding them to seventh place, a playoff and then the second-division title that returned them to La Liga; the report notes he had given up playing at 20 because of rheumatism and worked at Ikea while coaching in Asturias, and that he once described Racing as “more neighbourhood team than professional club.” The side conceded 61 goals in the season they won the second division, but momentum and renewed optimism were credited with their ascent.
Other opening-day results reported were Alavés 3-0 Getafe, Espanyol 3-0 Levante and Sevilla 2-1 Rayo Vallecano; upcoming fixtures listed included Monday Deportivo La Coruña v Elche (8pm BST) and Wednesday Atlético Madrid v Malaga (8pm BST).