Yassir Zabiri scored the winner in the 84th minute as Racing Santander turned a one-goal deficit into a 2-1 home win over Espanyol. The finish took him to 8 league goals in 10 La Liga appearances this season, which is a serious return for a player already deciding tight games for Racing.

Zabiri's scoring run

The shape of this win fits Zabiri's season. He has scored in three of his last five league matches, and against Espanyol he had 4 shots before finding the decisive touch in the area. Yassir Zabiri is not just cashing in on one hot spell, he is turning up often enough to change games on his own.

José Alberto López said the hosts were still pushing late on, and that was the point. Speaking after the match, he said: "The hosts were not satisfied with the draw and, with five minutes left, in a scramble in the area after a corner, the Moroccan striker Zabiri showed opportunism and managed to get a toe to it and completed the comeback with his eighth goal of the season." Racing's balance is still shaky, with 2 wins, 2 draws and 5 defeats after 9 league matches, but they have a forward carrying a lot of the burden.

The VAR check and Espanyol's position

The other flashpoint came before the turnaround. Jesús Gil said the VAR had to review a possible penalty in the Racing box for a handball by Pablo Ramón, before the decision was cancelled after a prior foul by Roberto on Belocian was given as the reason. That left Espanyol with no reward from the incident and no points at the end of it either.

Manolo González's side are 17th with 8 points after 9 games, so this defeat keeps the pressure on them in a very direct way. Edu Expósito and Javi Hernández were part of the same contest, but the match belonged to Zabiri once the closing stages arrived. The late winner was his eighth of the season, and Racing now have another result built around his finishing.

Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →