Racing Santander

Ground: Campos de Sport de El Sardinero

Visits: 1

Date: 1st November 2017

Match: Racing Santander - Burgos 1-0 (Segunda B, Grupo 2)

Attendance: 9 168

As I was planning this year´s late October/early November trip I looked at UEFA-games and what domestic games I could combine with. My top priority was Athletic Club v Östersund on Thursday evening and I built the trip around that game. I wanted to be in Spain from Tuesday to Sunday but confirmation of kick-off times for the weekend games dragged on and in the end I made the decision to go to two games in Spain and then fly to Germany for another two games. On Tuesday afternoon I headed towards Copenhagen airport and at 15.30 my Iberia flight left for Madrid. My destination for the day was Bilbao though and at 22.10, after more than three hours waiting time at the airport, my second Iberia flight of the day set off. We arrived in Bilbao around 23.00 and shortly before midnight I was at my hotel in central Bilbao. The hotel was across the street from Estadio de San Mamés, the home of Athletic Club, but above all only a 5-minute walk from the bus station.

My destination on Wednesday, a nice November day in northern Spain, was Santander which is around 90 minutes by bus from Bilbao. 1 November was a public holiday in Spain and in Segunda B, the third tier of Spanish football, there were full rounds of games. Real Racing Club de Santander, as the club is officially called, have played 44 season in Primera División but after being relegated in the 2011/12 the club have been playing at level 2 and 3. Last year the club lost out to Barcelona B in the last play-off game and this year the club are in the play-off zone once again. Kick-off was at 17.00 and arriving 11.30 I had time to do some sightseeing in the city centre. Santander is the capital of the region Cantabria and the city has a population of around 180 000. Being a public holiday there was a lot of people enjoying the sunshine. Campos de Sport de El Sardinero, the home of Racing Santander, is situated along the beach in the El Sardinero area of Santander. It was on this beach the great Severiano Ballesteros hit his first golf shots btw. Racing Santander is probably the biggest club in Segunsa B this season and with Racing Santander v Burgos being 4th v 3rd in group 2 I was hoping for a decent attendance for this game. Campos de Sport de El Sardinero has a capacity of 22 000 and in the end 9 168, best attendance at a Segunda B game this season, showed up. The visitors from Burgos brought in total 4-500 fans and at times they were quite vocal. Before kick-off home fans in Tribuna Norte showed off a nice tifo and as the game started there was anticipation in the air from both sets of fans. A boring 45 minutes later it was still 0-0 on the score-board and I was preparing myself for a goalless game. The second half was slightly more entertaining though and in the 72nd minute Racing Santander managed to score, 1-0 and massive celebration in side El Sardinero. Burgos produced a few decent chances but failed to equalize. Racing Santander should have scored a second goal in stoppage tome but somehow missed. Three important points for the home team though but I still think they have to improve if they want to promote to Segunda División.