Soldado to the rescue

Roberto Soldado gives the victory with a fabulous hat trick

A dramatic late double strike saw Roberto Soldado complete a hat-trick as Valencia beat Racing Santander 4-3 having appeared to be heading for defeat as the new La Liga season finally got underway on Saturday.

The season was supposed to start a week ago but a strike of a different kind - as players downed tools over wages - meant it was delayed for the first time in 27 years.

It started well with Soldado sliding the ball home after keeper Antonio Rodriguez spilled a Pablo Hernandez shot after just one minute on the pitch but he went on to head into his own goal six minutes later before the lively Lautaro Acosta gave Racing the lead after 14 minutes.

The game appeared to be going away from Valencia as Adrian Gonzalez took advantage of a poor defensive clearance to add to Racing's lead on 56 minutes but then defender Adil Rami reduced the deficit (58).

Lineups
Valencia: Guaita, Ricardo Costa (45' Alberto Costa), Adil Rami, Jordi Alba, Bruno, Banega, Bernat (45' Sergio Canales), Pablo, Piatti (67' Jonas).

Racing: Toño, Osmar, Álvaro, Domingo, Manuel Arana (78' Samperio), Diop, Picón (69' Borja García), Adrian, Bakircioglu, Lautaro Acosta (64' Edu Bedia), Munitis. 

Goal Scorers: Soldado (1' 1-0), Soldado (6' 1-1 o.g.), Lautaro Acosta (14' 1-2), Adrian Gonzalez (56' 1-3), Rami (57' 2-3), Soldado (88' 3-3), Soldado (90' 4-3)

Real Madrid loans Sergio Canales to Valencia

Sergio Canales will play for Valencia

Sergio Canales will play for Valencia on loan until the summer 2013 according to AS. 

Valencia have secured a buying option for Canales, believed to be worth £10.4M, while Real Madrid will be allowed to re-sign the midfielder during the two-year period which follows the player's potential transfer to the Mestalla for a reported fee of between £13M-£15.5M.

Canales, 20, had a muted first season at the Santiago Bernabeu after signing for the club from Racing Santander last summer.

The midfielder, who made 15 appearances for Real Madrid last season, will complete a move to Valencia after the conclusion of the Under-20 World Cup in Colombia. 

Valencia "falls" at Mestalla

Roberto Soldado's reaction with their defeat against Sevilla

Valencia fell to their third successive defeat with a 1-0 home loss to Sevilla on Sunday dealing a blow to their Champions League hopes.

Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic scored the decisive goal on 70 minutes to leave Valencia, who hit the woodwork twice, empty-handed as Sevilla did their European hopes the power of good.

Valencia surrender third place to Villarreal, who won 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, while Sevilla move level on points with sixth-placed Bilbao.

Sevilla hit Valencia with the killer blow at the other end with Rakitic producing a brilliant first time volley with his left foot on 70 minutes.

Zaragoza crushes Valencia with a 4-0 win

Jonas trying to win the ball against Leonardo Ponzio

Real Zaragoza turned up the heat on Valencia coach Unai Emery with a thumping 4-0 win. Valencia president Manuel Llorente backed the coach after the club tumbled out of the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Schalke in midweek, but got far from the perfect response at La Romareda.

Goals from Jiri Jarosik and Ander Herrera in the first half and a brace of penalties after the break from Gabi completed a miserable night for Valencia. They finished the game with ten men as Marius Stankevicius was sent off in the 65th minute for a second yellow card he received in conceding the first penalty.

Valencia got off to a poor start as they conceded after just four minutes with Jarosik heading a Javier Paredes free-kick from the right into the roof of the net. At the other end Zaragoza goalkeeper Toni Doblas fumbled a cross from Jeremy Mathieu but got away with it.

Ikechukwu Uche had a chance to double the hosts lead in the 39th minute but his shot from six yards was weak and went wide. However, the Nigerian made up for that miss just a minute later by crossing for Herrera to knock home the second.

Things went from bad to worse for the visitors in the 65th minute as Stankevicius brought down Nicolas Bertolo in the area. The Lithuanian collected his second booking and Gabi stroked home the penalty.

Zaragoza were rampant now and Braulio's shot was tipped round the post by goalkeeper Vicente Guaita. The keeper, although, was picking the ball out of his net for a fourth time in the 74th minute after Gabi coolly sent another penalty into the bottom corner after David Albelda had fouled Braulio to put the seal on a comprehensive win.