Rayo Vallecano 4 : 2 Racing de Santander - Rayo comeback stuns Racing

Posted Saturday, March 03, 2012 by PA

Rayo Vallecano recovered from 2-0 down to beat 10-man Racing Santander 4-2 at Vallecas.

The visitors were dealt an early blow when goalkeeper Tono was sent off after just three minutes for bringing down Diego Costa.

However, they responded by taking a 2-0 lead after Marc Torrejon fired in from Christian Stuani's knockdown on nine minutes and Gonzalo Colsa finished calmly 19 minutes later.

Michu pulled a goal back for Rayo just before half-time and the hosts put the game beyond any doubt with three goals in 10 minutes after the break.

Michu tapped in his second to equalise after substitute goalkeeper Mario spilled Emiliano Armenteros' cross before Raul Tamudo and Piti consigned Racing to their second defeat in three games.

Rayo came into the game with the worst home record in the league, but made the perfect start when Diego Costa ran onto a pass over the top, nodded the ball past Tono and surely would have opened the scoring had he not been clattered into by the goalkeeper.

However, rather than build on their man advantage, it was the visitors who went in front.

Pape Diop swung a free-kick over from the left and Stuani's header down was met by a thunderous finish by Torrejon.

Racing passed up a great opportunity to make it two when Jairo Sampeiro shot straight at Joel when through one-on-one, but moments later they had doubled their advantage as Colsa showed remarkable composure to lift the ball over the Rayo goalkeeper after a wonderful pass from Stuani.

Jose Ramon Sandoval did not wait till the interval to make changes as he introduced Tamudo and Piti on 37 minutes and those substitutions were to prove inspired as Piti's cross from the right was expertly headed home by Michu.

And the hosts went from strength to strength in the second period.

Mario briefly prevented the equaliser with a fine save from Costa, but minutes later Michu did bring Rayo back on level terms as he swept home the rebound after Mario had failed to hold Armenteros' cross.

Tamudo then did what he does best as he got the slightest of touches on Costa's cross to divert the ball past Mario and Piti wrapped up the points with an excellent low finish after exchanging passes with Costa inside the area.

Piti was denied a glorious fifth as Mario managed to touch his chip onto the bar, but it mattered little to the final outcome as Rayo moved 10 points ahead of Racing, who remain in 18th.