- 1 FC Barcelona vs Racing Santander: fourteen years on, the Cantabrian newcomers are back at Camp Nou
- 2 FC Barcelona: a start of authority
- 3 Racing Santander: a Zabiri hat-trick and a promoted side that can score
- 4 La Liga prediction FC Barcelona vs Racing Santander
- 5 First, a word on our free picks
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling first
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About the images…
FC Barcelona vs Racing Santander: fourteen years on, the Cantabrian newcomers are back at Camp Nou 
Racing Santander had not played a top-flight game in Spain for fourteen years until this summer. Their return to the big time takes them to Camp Nou on Wednesday, in front of 105,000 seats.
Kick-off is set for Wednesday 16 September at 21:30 CEST. Matchday six in La Liga pits the defending champions against one of the season’s three promoted sides.
Barcelona had closed out their first two fixtures with seven goals scored and none conceded. No other club in the league could match that balance at that stage of the campaign.
Racing, meanwhile, had four points after three matches, with five goals scored and five conceded. A perfectly even return for a side that was still getting used to the level.
The Cantabrians sealed promotion on 16 May 2026 thanks to a 4-1 win over Real Valladolid. They were the first side from Segunda Division to secure promotion mathematically.
Hansi Flick heads into this one with a squad that lifted its 29th domestic title last season. There is no real debate about the gap between the two clubs.
That said, Racing are not showing up just to make up the numbers. Their first La Liga win since 2012 came against Elche in late August. The newcomers have already shown they can score at this level.
So the real question is not who wins, but by how much. That is where the call is made.
FC Barcelona: a start of authority 
After two games, Barcelona had two wins, seven goals scored and none conceded. That plus-seven difference was the best in La Liga.
The trip to Elche on 23 August ended in a 0-5 win, still the biggest away victory in the league this season. The Martinez Valero barely knew what hit it.
Four days later, Camp Nou welcomed Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona came out 2-0 winners. Two games, two clean sheets, message sent.
Fermin Lopez and Raphinha were joint top scorers at the end of August, with three goals each. The Catalan captain and the Andalusian midfielder are carrying the attack in equal measure.
Joan Garcia, meanwhile, was leading the Zamora Trophy race, with two matches played and not a single goal conceded. A zero average tells its own story and points to a defence that has hardly been tested.
Barcelona were also among the two least-booked teams in the league, with just one yellow card. Control shows up in the small details too.
Hansi Flick has kept the same core that delivered two straight titles to FC Barcelona. That continuity goes a long way towards explaining the level they have shown since August.
The schedule does, however, demand a busy stretch for FC Barcelona, with a Wednesday home game wedged between two other fixtures. Rotation is the only real question mark on the Catalan side.
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Racing Santander: a Zabiri hat-trick and a promoted side that can score 
On 28 August, Racing Santander beat Elche 3-2 at El Sardinero. It was the club’s first win in Spain’s top flight since 2012.
Yassir Zabiri scored a hat-trick in that match, the first of the La Liga season. The Moroccan then sat among the league’s leading scorers with three goals.
The opening day was just as encouraging, with a 2-2 draw against Villarreal. Scoring twice against a side used to Champions League nights was no small feat.
Racing then lost 3-2 away to Rayo Vallecano, by the same scoreline as their win over Elche. They do not shut games down, but they do create plenty of them.
Five goals scored and five conceded in three matches sums up this side neatly. Jose Alberto Lopez has built a team that wants to go forward rather than sit and survive.
That is brave. It gets risky at Camp Nou against the best attack in the country. Give Raphinha and Fermin Lopez space and it usually ends badly.
Inigo Sainz-Maza anchors a dressing room that is not used to this kind of stage. Nobody in the squad had played top-flight football in these colours before this summer.
The Campos de Sport de El Sardinero hold 22,308. Camp Nou holds five times that. The scale of the occasion is almost as striking as the gap in quality.
The contrast could hardly be sharper: one side has just won two titles on the bounce, the other is back in the top flight after fourteen seasons away. That gap shows in the budget, the experience and the dressing room know-how.
For Jose Alberto Lopez, the aim on a night like this is not about the scoreboard so much as damage limitation and keeping the confidence intact for more manageable fixtures ahead. Losing 4-0 at Camp Nou has never buried a promoted side. Getting crushed mentally can do far more harm.
Expected FC Barcelona line-up: Not announced at the time of publication.
Expected Racing Santander line-up: Not announced at the time of publication.
La Liga prediction FC Barcelona vs Racing Santander
Our prediction: FC Barcelona to win by at least three goals
Barcelona put five past Elche in their only away match of the season so far, then beat Athletic 2-0 at home. Seven scored, none conceded: FC Barcelona are keeping opponents at arm’s length and hitting hard.
Racing Santander have shipped five goals in three matches and are still committed to attacking football. That approach opens up exactly the kind of space Fermin Lopez and Raphinha have been feasting on since August.
The newcomers have not been at this level for fourteen years and have only won once, against the side sitting 19th in the table. Camp Nou is a very different beast.
The bet is on the margin: FC Barcelona to win by three goals or more on Wednesday night.
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