Racing Santander 3-2 Sevilla report - Racing win thriller

Manuel Arana capitalised on a howler by Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop to claim an injury-time winner for Racing Santander as they made a perfect start to Marcelino Garcia Toral's tenure with a 3-2 victory.

Arana lobbed the ball into an empty net after Palop had needlessly charged out of the penalty area to claim three vital points after a thrilling match at El Sardinero.

Christian Fernandez had an unforgettable game, scoring the opener before conceding a penalty - which, luckily for him, was missed - and then getting sent off for a bad challenge - all before half-time.

Ivan Rakitic's own goal made it 2-0 to Racing before Christian's red card with Sevilla pulling one back through Federico Fazio.

The visitors levelled through Luis Fabiano's 83rd-minute penalty and appeared to be the only likely winners before Arana's late intervention.

Racing have been short of goals all season and were without a win in seven games, a run which saw Marcelino replace Miguel Angel Portugal earlier this week.

With the hosts desperate for a win, they enjoyed a perfect start as they went ahead in the 12th minute through Christian.

Kennedy Bakircioglu sent in a corner from the right which Palop failed to connect with and Christian took advantage, jumping higher before prodding the ball over the line.

Christian turned villain just four minutes later when Jesus Navas got in front of him in the area only for the Racing striker to lunge in and concede a spot-kick.

However, Sevilla failed to take advantage as Alvaro Negredo's penalty lacked height and power enabling Antonio Tono to make a comfortable save.

The visitors were punished three minutes later when Racing doubled their lead.

Kennedy whipped a low free-kick into the box from the right which found Rakitic on the edge of the six-yard box. The Sevilla midfielder lunged at the ball but could only deflect it into his own net.

Palop had to be alert to keep the score down to two as he clawed out Adrian's header on the half hour with Racing in control.

However, the complexion of the game changed seven minutes before the break when Christian was given a straight red card after lunging into a challenge on Mouhamadou Dabo with his studs up.

From the resulting free-kick, Rakitic found Fazio and the midfielder climbed above the defence and headed home.

Sevilla discovered extra impetus: an unmarked Fazio blazing over while Navas fired straight at the keeper and the hosts were relieved to reach half-time.

Sevilla continued in the same vein at the start of the second half, Fazio just failing to connect in front of goal and Fabiano and Navas causing all kinds of problems although the hosts' staunch defending was holding out.

Navas volleyed the ball across the face of goal but Negredo failed to anticipate before the same player almost levelled 13 minutes from time but his header came back off the post.

However, seven minutes from time Sevilla were awarded a contentious penalty when Kennedy made contact with Diego Capel who appeared to be knocking the ball out.

Fabiano made no mistake, waiting for the keeper to move before striking a firm shot down the middle.

Sevilla appeared to be the only possible winner before Palop had a rush of blood.

Instead of letting his defence deal with Arana, who had taken control of a long ball, the keeper rushed out of his area enabling the midfielder to lob the ball over him and into an unguarded net from 35 yards.